Safety Assurance through HACCP

   

The HACCP points system improves the safety of food by using a logical approach to food safety.Even if HACCP is not required by your local inspectors,it is still an excellent way to teach food safety and produce safe food. The HACCP concept combines principles of food microbiology,quality control, and risk assessment to obtain ,as nearly as possible, a fail -safe system. This approach has been recommended as a method to promote food safety by industry quality assurance personnel, government food safety officials and international expert committees for over 20years

Traditional inspection programs have focused on sanitation,construction and appearance. This type of inspection can result in better maintenance and cleaning of equipment and facilities,but it does not always focus on the specific food handling steps that allow you to produce safe food.

Therefore, a facility could receive a high score on the "traditional" inspection but still have dangerous problems in food handling.As a result ,investigations consistently find the same major causes of bacterial illnesses.There are:

• Inadequate food time / temperature control
• Contamination of food by infected workers, chemicals,equipment and supplies.

Preventing Foodborne Illness in Your Establishment

Most foodborne illness occurs because of time/temperature abuse,cross contamination and/or poor personal hygiene.Every food service worker must become health conscious.Training employees in basic hygiene is vital to the safety of the food served in your establishment.

Employee Health

Everyone who handles food should be healthy.Food service employees should never be on duty when they have symptoms of diseases that can be transmitted when they directly contact food or other persons.The manager should know if an employee: 

• Has an illness diagnosed as S.typi,Shigella spp.,E.coli 0157:H7,or hepatitis
• Has specific symptoms of illnesses and therefore should not work with exposed food, clean equipment,utensils and linens
• Had past infections caused by S.typi,Shigella spp.,E.coli 0157:H7,and Hepatitis
• Has a high risk of becoming ill from previous exposure to contaminated foods or an infected person.

If so, these employees should be excluded from the food service establishment until they are no longer infectious.

Employees who show signs of illness such as fever, sneezing, coughing,vomiting, diarrhea,or oozing burns and cuts,should be reassigned or sent home and not return to work until they are no longer sick and do not risk passing along their disease. People can also be carriers of disease producing microorganisms and not be sick themselves.They may never show the symptoms or they may have recovered, but they can pass on the microorganisms that could make your customers ill.

Food contamination can occur when a food service employee gets cut while working with food.Blood contaminates food and any surface its touches.Food exposed to blood must be thrown out and surfaces must be sanitized before being used again.Employees in food establishments are at high risk for cuts,burns and abrasions.For this reason ,first-aid supplies are needed.

 

However, more serious cuts and burns are likely to be infected and can be a more serious problem when he employee handles food.An infection may be present and fluids can contaminate foods and equipment.Food handlers who suffer a severe burn or cut, or workers with infected wounds,cuts,boils or burns,should not be working with food until their injury has healed.Meanwhile, they they may be able to work at other job stations.

Personal Hygiene 

Practicing good health habits (personal hygiene) is the first step in staying healthy and keeping food safe.All food service workers should take a bath dailywith soap and water,and arrive at work clean.Worker should cover their mouth and noses when coughing or sneezing and then wash their hands before handling food.This helps reduce the spread of disease (such as staphylococcal food poisoning) by droplet contamination.Employers should also eliminate unsanitary habits,such as scratching the head or touching the mouth or nose,which may pass bacteria on to food.

Activities such as eating,drinking and tobacco use in any form should be prohibited around exposed foods,clean equipment,utensils and linens.The food code allows employees to drink from closed beverage container, as long as they prevent contamination of the container,hands,or exposed foods,clean equipment,utensils and linens. Eating ,drinking,and tobacco use are prohibited in food preparation areas to prevent the hand-to-mouth contact which leads to contamination of food.Chewing gum is also a source of droplet contamination.Blowing bubbles or touching the gum with their fingers is prohibited.Employees should eat,drink and smoke only in designated areas.No employee should resume work after eating,drinking or smoking without first thoroughly washing his or her hands.

A proper attire..lead by example

Do not wipe your hands on work aprons.and then touch food.Freshly washed aprons should always be worn.Dirty apron contain dangerous bacteria.Hair should be properly restrained to prevent contamination of food.Remember,staphylococcal food poisoning organisms live in hair.

Hand Washing 

A food service establishment must provide places for workers to wash their hands frequently.A number of hand sinks should be conveniently located near rest rooms,next to food preparation areas,and wherever needed and kept accessible at all times.These sinks, which are to be used only for hand washing,must have warm water,a supply of hand-cleansing soap,and a sanitary means of hand drying,such as disposable towels or an air-drying device.Do not wash your hands in a food preparation sink.Steps for hand washing...

1. Use warm running water
2. Wet hands and arms up to elbows.
3. Apply soap detergent.
4. Rub hands and forearms briskly for at least 20 seconds to build up a good lather.Scrub between fingers and clean nails.If a hand or nail brush is used,make sure the brush is clean and replaced often.
5. Rinse thoroughly under running water.
6. Dry hands and arms using a single service towel or hot-air dryer.

Rings,bracelets and other jewelry trap microorganisms and are very difficult to keep clean.The best way to prevent contamination from jewelry-borne microorganisms is not to wear jewelry when handling food.

Clothing 

Dirty clothing presents two problems: odor and contamination by bacteria.Every effort must be made to reduce the risk of passing contamination from clothing to others by food handlers.Dirt can enter the establishment on employee's shoes or clothing.Ordinary dirt contains many microorganisms from sewage,fertilizer,pesticides or street soil. Teach your employees the importance of clean clothing on the job.Employees should arrive at work in clean clothes.They should wear a clean uniform or protective clothing whenever necessary.Caps,nets or other hair restraints which minimize touching hair should be worn to prevent contamination from loose hair.If employees wear uniforms or protective clothing provided by the establishment,there should be a locker room or other suitable changing area.It must be separate from the food preparation areas.All employee belongings,including medicines,lunches,coats and purses,must be stored in a designated area away from food,kitchenware and stored goods.

SEAFOOD TOXINS

Some fish and shellfish can become poisonous.For example ,mussels and clams can become toxic when they eat or filter poisonous types of plankton( microscopic plants and animals) found in water.However ,this and most other marine toxins are not destroyed by cooking.This is why you should never eat shellfish during a "red tide"

 Scombroid Poisoning is common cause of seafood illness.It occurs when fish such as mahi mahi ( dolphinfish) ,tuna ,mackerel,bluefish and amberjack are not properly refrigerated and begin to spoil.However ,not much spoilage is needed to produce scombroid toxin in fish meat.This is another reason why your best protection is to buy seafoods from a reputable dealer. The spoilage process taht produces scombroid toxin happen in fish that have high amounts of the amino histidine in their tissue.If these fish are not refrigerated quickly when they are caught, histidine is change to histamine.This is the same toxin that causes symptoms in an allergy attack.

 

Symptoms occur within minutes to 2 hours of eating the fish and last from 4-6 hours to 1-2days.The first symptoms are very similar to an allergy attack.Symptoms include redness of the face, sweating ,burning feelings in the tongue and mouth,dizziness,nausea and headache.Later symptoms are rashes,hives and diarrhea.Unfortunately, you cannot smell any difference in fish that have scombroid toxin,and the toxin cannot be destroyed by freezing,cooking,smoking,curing or canning.

 

 Ciguatera Poisoning also one of the most common causes of seafood poisoning.The toxin is not produced by the fish but from what the fish eats.This is another toxin that is not destroyed by cooking ,freezing or canning.Symptoms usually occur 4 to 8 hours after eating the fish include weakness and nervous system disorders.Symptoms can last a long time because the toxin persists in body fat.Remember to buy your fish from reputable dealer!

 

PLANT TOXINS

 Plant which are poisonous include water hemlock,fava beans, rhubarb leaves and jimpson weed.Mushrooms used in food establishments must be from an approved source because of the difficulty in judging between safe and unsafe varieties.

OMG! this one is the most infected plant..kah..kah..kah

INFO: Source of Hazards

Food can be contaminated biologically,chemically and physically.Biological contamination is cause by harmful bacteria,viruses and parasites.Chemical contamination is caused when substances such as cleaning compounds, food additives or pesticides get into food.Physical contamination is caused when hair ,glass,metal shavings,broken objects,dirt,etc, get into food.

Biological contamination.

  Most foodborne illnesses are caused by microorganisms (such as bacteria,viruses and parasites) that come from people who handle food improperly and from microorganisma that are already on the food when you receive it.   If food is not handled properly, such as being left in the danger zone (41 to 140F) for too long or not being cooked to the correct temperature,bacteria that cause foodborne illness can quickly multiply to high level in the food.  4 types of microorganisms cause biological contamination in foods: Bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi

 Chemical contamination

   If not properly handled, food products,equipment and preparation areas can all be contaminated by chemical substances.Most reported chemical contamination is associated with substances such as food additives and preservatives,pesticides,toxic metals and toxic cleaning products.Symptoms of chemical food poisoning can occur within seconds of ingesting the chemical.Initial symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea.


Physical Contamination

  Physical contamination occurs when objects such as glass,hair,nails,jewelry,metal fragments or even dirt become mixed with food.The use of broken or worn utensils and equipment can be source of physical contamination in foods. Improper ventilation and poorly maintained facilities can contribute to direct physical contamination .If you do not regularly clean your kitchen vents,they can blow objects into the food (for example,large amounts of fungal spores,hair, dirt,etc). Improperly maintained plumbing pipes,such as those in walk in cold rooms,can also drip contaminated substances (for example, water, fungi ,metal ,paint ,dirt, etc)

Cross Contamination
 
  Contaminated or uncooked raw foods can cause harmful microorganisms to be passed to safe foods and cause a foodborne illness.This is called cross-contamination.For example,cross-contamination occurs when juice from raw food items,such as meats,poultry and seafoods,touch or drip onto cooked foods. Cross contamination  also occurs when food contact surfaces (such as cutting boards) are not kept clean and sanitized.
   Also,although theyare not necessarily hazardous foods,vegetables and fruits can also carry bacteria that come from the soil and cross contaminate foods with diseasa causing micrpprganisms.For example ,if you use a cutting board to cut up fruit or vegetables, you must clean and sanitize the board and knife before they touch other cooked foods.If not, you could be cross contaminating the food preparation surface with a microorganism called CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS.
  Another example of possible cross contamination occurs when raw chicken is trimmed on a cutting board,fried in a pan ,then returned to the unsanitized cutting board to be cubed.In this way you have contaminated your cooked (safe) chicken with bacteria from the raw chicken.

 Remember that all raw products can carry harmful bacteria and that cross contamination is one of the major causes of foodborne illness