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Food safety is a scientific discipline describing the handling, preparation, and storage of Food in ways that prevent Foodborne Illness . DOMESTIC FOODBORNE ILLNESS PREVENTION At home, prevention of Foodborne Illness mainly consists of:
BACTERIAL GROWTH Bacteria need Warmth , Moisture , food and Time to Grow . The presence, or absence, of Oxygen , Salt , Sugar and Acid ity are also important factors for growth. In the right conditions, one bacterium can multiply using Binary Fission to become four Million in eight hours. Since bacteria can be neither Smelled nor Seen , the best way to ensure that food is safe is to follow principles of good food Hygiene . This includes not allowing Raw or partially cooked food to touch dishes, utensils, Hand s or work surfaces previously used to handle even properly cooked or ready to eat food. High salt, high sugar or high acid levels keep most bacteria from growing, which is why salted meats, Jam , and Pickle d vegetables are traditional preserved foods. Botulism may come from smoked or salted meat according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse webpage. The most frequent causes of bacterial foodborne illnesses are cross-contamination and inadequate Temperature control. Therefore control of these two matters is especially important. FOOD TEMPERATURE Thoroughly Cooking food until it is piping hot, i.e. above 70 °C (158 °F) will quickly kill most bacteria, parasites and viruses. '' Clostridium Botulinum '', '' Clostridium Perfringens '' and '' Bacillus Cereus '', produce heat-resistant Spores some of which survive temperatures up to 100 °C (212 °F). Norovirus and Hepatitis A can sometimes survive temperatures up to 190°F. Once cooked, hot foods should be kept at temperatures out of the Danger Zone . Temperatures above 63 °C (135 °F) stop microbial growth. Cold foods should also be kept colder than the danger zone, below 5 °C (41 °F). However, '' Listeria Monocytogenes '' and '' Yersinia Enterocolitica '' can both grow at Refrigerator temperatures. Control of the Cold Chain is critical. Hot foods should be held at 57°C (135 °F) or hotter until ready to cool. Hot foods need to be cooled quickly to limit the amount of time the food is in the danger zone (temperature range at which bacteria can grow.) The food should be cooled from 57 °C (135 °F) to 10 °C (50 °F) within two hours, then further chilled to less than 5 °C (41 °F) in 4 hours. Foods take much longer to cool than most people realize. Food should then be held chilled at 5 °C (41 °F) or less. UK HACCP GUIDELINES AND OTHER OFFICIAL INFORMATION The ) programme. The relevant guidelines at http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/csctcooking.pdf state that:
Previous guidance from a leaflet produced by the UK Department Of Health “Handling Cooked Meats Safely A Ten Point Plan” also allowed for:
as well as the above. Secondary references for the above may be found at:
Note that recommended cooking conditions are only appropriate if initial bacterial numbers in the uncooked food are small. Cooking does not replace poor hygiene. In the United States, federal regulations governing food safety are fragmented and complicated, according to a February 2007 report from the Government Accountability Office. GAO-07-449T, Federal Oversight of Food Safety There are 15 agencies sharing oversight responsibilities in the food safety system, although the two primary agencies are the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is responsible for the safety of meat, poultry, and processed egg products, and the Food And Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for virtually all other foods. Critique Note that the above advice is open to critique
For more information, see Foodborne Illness . ACADEMIC RESOURCES
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