Category: Food

4 recognized principles to handle Food Hygiene issues

In the field of food safety and proper foods handling, the food industry regulates its relationship with all food hygiene issues following four recognized principles. Do you know this common term? “Finally some good food”, food hygiene is the most important part of good food.

These principles work together to cover all key areas where food contamination occurs.

By following these principles, you can greatly reduce the hygiene risks involved in handling food and its subsequent contamination.

 The four golden rules of good food hygiene are:

1. Buy food from safe sources.
2. Prevent bacteria from getting into your food.
3. Prevents the reproduction (or growth and development) of bacteria in food.
4. Kill bacteria on food, utensils, and work surfaces.

1. Buy food from safe sources

Ensure that food is only purchased from well-known and reputable suppliers. It is important to check whether all foods are within the shelf life and store them in proper conditions in the store.

• The service counter should be kept spotless, as should machineries such as shredders, knives, and slicers.
• Freezers, refrigerators, and freezers must display their temperature, refrigerated products must be set below 5 degrees Celsius, and frozen products must be set at 18 degrees Celsius or below.
• All containers must be original containers and must not be tampered with or falsified. This would indicate that the product did not have original content, but was produced by a fraudulent company. Under no circumstances should you buy these products because they will endanger your health.
• All reputable food retailers must display the latest licenses from all required regulatory agencies following legal requirements.

Please consult your local authorities to find out which permits a grocery store or supermarket must obtain to conduct business in your area. After the consultation, you can get finally good food.

2. Prevent bacteria from entering your food 

Very good! This is to tell you something about the rhythm of bacteria and how they reproduce.

 All bacteria, when they are in the right conditions, will begin to multiply. The condition they need is

1. a) The temperature is higher than 10 degrees Celsius (some say it is 5 degrees).
2. b) Food sources. Bacteria decompose all organic matter into sugar and use the basic molecule glucose monosaccharide in food for metabolism.

Bacteria only need 20 minutes to adapt to new food sources. For example, suppose a bacterium is present in sugary food and suddenly found in fish. The transition time required for the bacteria to digest the new food source is 20 minutes.

1. c) Water source.

After obtaining the right conditions, the bacteria began to multiply at a rate of one cell per 20 minutes for the entire colony. E.g. If you have 1,000 bacteria in a piece of food, you will have 1 million bacteria in 20 minutes. In the next 20 minutes, this number will increase to 1 million bacteria. The numbers after that are just astronomical!

Cross-contamination

Preventing bacteria from entering food is mainly to prevent cross-contamination.

Cross-contamination refers to any form of contamination contact between any food source and other sources. This could be other food (raw or processed), packaging, garbage, contaminated water or air, unclean or sick people, animal life, or dirty tools and surfaces.

• Good professional kitchens have refrigerators with different functions. For example, there is a refrigerator for dairy products, another for cold storage of fresh vegetables, and another for cooked food.
• As homeowners, we generally don’t have this luxury, so we recommend placing cooked foods on top of the refrigerator and raw materials at the bottom of an airtight container. In this way, the risk of contamination is considerably reduced.
• Eggs should especially be placed in airtight containers because there are many bacteria in their shells.
• Remember to wash your hands and arms up to the elbow before preparing food. First cut the salad before handling the food to be cooked, making sure to clean your plate thoroughly before handling different types of food.

Clean all surfaces with high-quality detergent before and after work. Put the cloth in the washing liquid after each use. Always start with a clean cloth.

3. Avoid breeding bacteria in your food. 

As mentioned above, bacteria need the right conditions to divide. To do this, they need

1. A) the right temperature
2. B) food
3. C) water.

• Therefore, food should be stored at the lowest possible temperature to keep bacteria inactive. Also, do not allow food to come into contact with water before cooking. By thawing food in water, we provide a good start for bacteria.
• Cook food as soon as possible and keep it at a temperature of at least 70 degrees Celsius after cooking until ready to serve.
• If you have to cool down the food, do not put hot food in a large container in the refrigerator. Divide them into smaller containers and do not stack them in a way that air cannot circulate the container. Once cooled, freeze if possible.
• When thawing food, please defrost it in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Remember, it’s better to plan a meal a few days in advance instead of having to take a few days of sick leave in bed.
• Cook the food as soon as possible after defrosting.

The best way to eliminate all bacteria is to cook food in a pressure cooker. In this way, the combination of temperature increase and atmospheric pressure increase will thoroughly disinfect the food.

4. Kills bacteria on food, utensils, and work surfaces. 

This rule speaks for itself. Don’t let them grow in your kitchen.

Cook food as soon as possible. Food that cannot be cooked should be frozen if it is not eaten for a short time.

• Alternative ways of preserving food, such as dehydration, smoking, canning, sterilization, concentration, and pickling, are alternative methods to prevent and eliminate bacteria in food.
• The surrounding environment is also a source of food contamination, so hot water and detergent should be used to clean the work surface after each use.
• In a professional kitchen, all work areas must be treated with stainless steel. In this way, the surface can be cleaned with special chemicals for the removal of grease and lime, which contain caustic soda or phosphate. For safety reasons, remember not to mix chemicals, especially acids and alkalis, such as caustic soda and phosphoric acid.
• also, wash all utensils in very hot water and detergent. The water should be so hot that you must wear gloves to tolerate the heat.
• Store pots, pans, plates, silverware, and other utensils in a clean, dry place. Make sure they are dry before storing. Use a clean dish towel each time. Store them upside down. Keep all storage areas clean. Check regularly for signs of pests.
• Heat the dishes to 80 degrees Celsius before serving. This will prevent further contamination.

Pay close attention to these principles, and the chances of you or your client getting sick will be greatly reduced. And your client will say “Finally some good Food”.