Introduction to Food Safety

Food Safety- What is That?

Food safety in interested in the safe supply of foods to consumers. In a fast-paced world, food safety has become even more important as the masses purchase ready-made foods regularly. This can be done by checking foods for signs of deterioration; improper packaging or even the presence of potentially harmful glass chips in a food.

In short, food safety aims to reduce the possibility of harmful agents contaminating foods.

The food industry loses more than US$ 1 billion a year due to cases of food poisoning (which in turn forces the "culprit" company to recall all their food products). Or, customers might complain about the presence of physical/biological contaminants within the food. Examples include pieces of metal in cakes or cockroaches in soya sauce.

To minimise this, food companies employ various means of safety procedures. Among these include inplementing HACCP guidelines. Other means involve daily cleaning procedures to minimise the amount of contaminants present in the environment.

Common food spoilage microorganisms/pathogens:

Most people have the mistaken notion that spoiled foods must, in some way or the other, emit a disgusting smell. In fact, most people consume foods that looks alright externally. However, the poisons secreted by the pathogenic microbes often lies beneath the surface. This makes it hard to distinguish foods harbouring pathogens from foods that are truly safe.

Do read up more of them :)

Campylobacter jejuni; Clostridium botulinum; Clostridium perfringens; Bacillus cereus; Escherichia coli 0157:H7; Listeria monocytogenes; Staphylococcus; Shigella


Some simple steps to ensure food safety:

Wash hands before handling food; don gloves
Separate raw foods from cooked foods (prevents cross-contamination) especially those in the
refrigerator
Keep hot foods hot & cold foods cold
Reheat food thoroughly to kill microbes
Wash foods (vegetables etc.) thouroughly before eating. This helps to minimise the bacterial load
Buy frozen foods last. This allows for some "grace" time to rush back home in time to store the
foods


For more info, do visit:
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1442.pdf