Food Safety & Hygiene

The topics covered in this article will provide you with the knowledge and understanding to handle, process and prepare food safely.

Food Safety in Catering:

It’s no secret that we share our world with some really nasty characters, commonly known as germs.

Germs are tiny microorganisms that exist all around us. We can’t see, taste or smell them, but these tiny invaders can make our bodies sick.

If you’re someone who handles and prepares food, it’s really easy for you to spread these germs to food without even realising it, and the consequences can be incredibly serious.

We’re going to explore the importance of food hygiene, including food safety hazards, their sources and methods of control.

Food production, preparation, handling, selling and transportation is strictly regulated by legislation.

The rules apply to lots of different professions, and anyone handling food and drink within the catering sector must be trained in Food Safety and Hygiene.

E.g., hotels, cafes, restaurants, kitchens, fast-food outlets, hospitals, schools.

Understanding food law:

Food, specifically the production and handling of food, is covered by law.

It’s important that you understand the key information about food legislation and what practical issues must be covered to comply with food regulations.

The guidance is for all types of food business in England, Wales and Scotland. Similar legislation applies in Northern Ireland.

The main responsibilities for all food businesses under the Act are:

• to ensure you do not include anything in food, remove anything from food or treat food in any way which means it would be damaging to the health of people eating it.
• to ensure that the food you serve or sell is of the nature, substance or quality which consumers would expect.
• to ensure that the food is labelled, advertised and presented in a way that is not false or misleading.

These set out basic hygiene requirements. Things like:

• Food safety management procedures based on the principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP).
• Training requirements
• Temperature control
• Hygiene standards

Impact of Foodborne Illness:

Food illness is defined as ‘diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food’.

And it’s a serious global problem.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, foodborne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill about 2.2 million people every year.

Foodborne diseases can originate from a wide variety of different foods and be caused by many different pathogenic organisms that have contaminated them at some part of the food chain, between farm and fork.

Although the majority of cases are mild, they’re often unpleasant and uncomfortable.

And can result in absences from education or the workplace, and place significant demand on healthcare services.

Foodborne diseases are particularly dangerous for people with poor health or weakened immune systems.

Occasionally cases can lead to serious or long-term conditions, and even death.

Bacteria in Food

The most common foodborne infections are caused by four bacteria

– Campylobacter, Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, and E. coli.

• Campylobacter can be found in undercooked poultry meat, like chicken, or other food cross-contaminated with juices dripping from raw poultry meat.
• Raw meat, eggs, or bacteria in food unpasteurised milk can contain Salmonella.
• Beef, poultry, gravies, and dried or pre-cooked foods are common sources of Clostridium perfringens infections.

Infection often occurs when foods are prepared in large quantities and kept warm for a long time before serving. Outbreaks often happen in institutions, such as hospitals, school cafeterias, prisons, and nursing homes, or at events with catered food.

• Food or water contaminated with microscopic amounts of cattle faeces may `contain E. coli.

If you get infected with a foodborne disease caused by bacteria, you may start to feel ill about 12 to 72 hours after eating the food

This is because bacteria need time to multiply.

Stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases fever, are the most common symptoms in foodborne diseases.

Untreated diarrhoea and vomiting may lead to severe dehydration or even death in extreme cases.

Viruses and Parasites in Food

There are several viruses that can cause foodborne diseases, including Enterovirus, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Norovirus and Rotavirus.

Food can get contaminated with faeces or bodily fluids such as saliva, blood or urine which contain the viruses.

Poor personal hygiene and failure to wear suitable personal protective equipment (or PPE for short) are the key factors in transmitting foodborne viral diseases.

For example, if you do not wash your hands properly, you may contaminate a salad or sandwich you are preparing.

Gastrointestinal illness caused by viruses usually leads to vomiting or diarrhoea, that resolves within two days.

Except Hepatitis A, which takes about 2 to 4 weeks to display symptoms and can spread beyond the stomach and intestines into the liver, causing jaundice.

People who prepare and handle food have a big part to play to help prevent people from getting these viruses and the unpleasant symptoms that go with them.

How does Food become contaminated?

It’s actually pretty easy for food to become contaminated.

Contamination is when something unpleasant or harmful ends up in food, and this typically can happen in one of four ways:

MICROORGANISMS

Bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites can develop, multiply or simply remain active in foodstuffs that are not handled, stored, and prepared correctly, or cooked sufficiently.

CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION (AND NATURAL POISONS).

Chemical hazards include chemicals and natural toxins. This includes cleaning agents, excessive additives, pesticide residues, and other chemicals used in catering. Remember that some foods may contain allergens, like wheat or nuts, that can cause severe allergic reactions in some people. Equally, some foods contain natural toxins which can be harmful or even lead to death if ingested.

Be particularly careful when handling foods like sprouting potatoes, poisonous mushrooms, red kidney beans, rhubarb leaves, egg whites, and some kinds of fish. Moulds produce highly toxic substances such as mycotoxins, neurotoxins and aflatoxins.

PHYSICAL CONTAMINATION

• Physical hazards are ‘foreign objects’ such as clothing fibres, hairs, dirt, insects, animal droppings and jewellery.
• Physical contamination is usually visible, and can happen at any stage of the production or preparation process.
• If you have a cat or a dog at home and you do not wear suitable PPE at work, you may contaminate food with animal hairs carried on your clothing.

FOOD SPOILAGE

• Food spoilage is caused by food decay.
• If you undercook or store food incorrectly, or keep it and consume it after its use-by date, you risk food spoilage.
• Decay allows us to digest food. At the same time, eating spoilt food can cause food poisoning.
• Bacteria and fungi are the main factors in food decomposition. Ambient temperatures, oxygen and water speed up decay,
• allowing bacteria and fungi to multiply freely.
• Spoilt food often changes colour, taste, texture and smell, which can help you spot it.
• In contrast, high or low temperatures, and lack of oxygen or water create a hostile environment for bacteria and fungi, and slow down food decay.

How to prevent contamination through Good Hygiene?

Anyone working in the food and drinks catering business must follow good food hygiene practices for three very important reasons:

• To obey the law
• To reduce the risk of food poisoning among your customers; and
• To protect the reputation of the business you own or work for.

At its heart, good food hygiene is all about controlling harmful bacteria, which we now know can cause serious illness.

You can use the 4Cs to help you prevent the most common food safety problems:

• Cross-contamination
• Cleaning
• Chilling
• Cooking

pest control

The presence of pests in any food handling premises is unacceptable.

They can spread disease.

Contaminate work surfaces and foodstuffs. And can damage property.

If the public spot a pest, you also risk loss of reputation, prosecution and closure.

This is why it’s important to prevent, as far as practicable, the introduction of pests to the workplace and reduce the conditions that may encourage their presence.

personal hygiene

As someone who works with food and drink, it’s important that you maintain a high level of personal cleanliness.

When handling food you should wear suitable, clean clothing and, where necessary, personal protective equipment (PPE for short).

You shouldn’t wear watches or jewellery when preparing food. And you should avoid touching your face and hair.

It goes without saying, but you should not smoke, spit, sneeze, eat or chew gum when handling food.

If you suffer from any of the symptoms below, you must not handle food, or enter a food handling area:

• Are suffering from, or carrying, a disease likely to be transmitted through food
• Have infected wounds, skin infections, sores
• Have diarrhoea (anyone with diarrhoea or vomiting should not return to work until they have had no symptoms for 48 hours)

Effective hand-washing is extremely important to help prevent harmful bacteria from spreading from your hands to food, work surfaces and equipment.

Washing your hands properly should take around 20 seconds.

Safe temperatures and storage – food preservation

Food preservation is processing food, while maintaining its colour, taste and nutrients, to stop or slow down food decay.

Correct food preservation, storage and temperature control can help avoid food contamination risks altogether.

A number of methods exist to preserve food and then store it in order to extend its life.

For more information, please Chat with us Ask The Expert.