Food Hygiene & Safety
4C’s (food safety)
Cleaning 🧼
surfaces that come into contact with food
surfaces that come into contact with hands
Wash hands - before/after touching food
Clothes - clean clothes, sleeves rolled up, and wear an apron
Jewellery - watches removed, and piercings covered up, if can’t be removed
Skin - cuts should be covered in a blue plaster (so it can be found easily if falls off)
Face - Don’t cough, spit, bite nails, smoke, or pick nose around food
Prevents cross-contamination
Cross-Contamination 🧫
main carriers of bacteria are:
humans
rubbish
pests / animals
food - raw meat
You should keep raw meat separate from ready-to-eat food, use a different chopping board
and wash hand before/after touching
red board = raw meat
blue board = raw fish
yellow board = cooked meats
green board = salad and fruit
brown board = vegetables
white board = bakery and dairy
Cooking 🍳
Food must be served at a temperature over 63oC
Bacteria dies when temperatures rise over 60oC
Some food change colour when cooked
The core must reach a minimum temp of 75oC - ensures most bacteria are destroyed
Some meat should not be red/pink (chicken/pork) and have clear juices
Some meats are be eaten less well done (beef/lamb)
Left overs should be chilled quickly (less than 2 hours) and used within 48 hours
Left-overs should be re-heated, no more than once, and re-heated to 75oC
You can check the temperature of food with a probe:
clean with disinfectant wipe before/after use
insert into thickest/core of food
make sure it doesn’t touch the pan or cooking dish
Chilling ❄
The optimum temperature for bacteria growth in 5-63oC
Temperature bellow 5oC slows growth of bacteria - ideal fridge temperature
Temperatures above 63oC kills bacteria
The ideal temperature for a freezer is -17oC
Dates
Use-by
you have until the end of this date to use/freeze the food, before it becomes risky to eat
Best-before
you can eat the food after this date, but it may not be the best quality
Food Spoilage
Autolysis - enzymes in food
ripening - continues until it becomes inedible (banana)
browning - enzymes reacting with air (apple)
oxidation - loss of nutrients (over boiling green veg)
Microbial Spoilage
Bacteria - singled celled micro-organisms, which are naturally present in environment
Yeasts - single celled fungi
Moulds - fungi growing like filaments in food
Contamination
Physical
For example:
soil from harvests
loose bolts
hair from chef
Bacterial
pathogenetic bacteria can cause illnesses
Bacteria cam be contaminated through cross-contamination
Some bacteria produce toxins hat cause food poisoning
Preventing Growth of Micro-organisms
Micro-organism ned oxygen, a good pH level (not too acidic), and well as:
Temperature
The ideal temperature is 30oC - 37oC
But can grow between 5-63oC
Most bacteria is killed at 63oC
Bacteria DO NOT die at cold temperatures, but rather become dormant
Moisture
If food have more moisture, is is higher risk
However, bacteria can produce spores, where they can survive until water is added
Time
Bacteria can divide into 2 every 10-20 minutes — Binary Fission
Food
Food high in moisture, fat, and protein are higher risk foods
e.g. meat, dairy, eggs, cooked rice/pasta
Food Poisoning
Symptoms:
feeling sick
being sick
diarrhoea
abdominal pain
Campylobacter
raw, uncooked poultry, contaminated water
symptoms in 4-5 days
fever, headache, dizzy, abdominal pain
E-Coli 0157
raw and uncooked meat/poultry, unwashed veg, contaminated water
symptoms in 3-4 days
diarrhoea that contains blood, lead to kidney failure or death
Listeria
unpasteurised milk/ dairy products, meat/poultry,
symptoms in 1-70 days
meningitis, septicaemia, pneumonia
miscarriages or birth defects in pregnant women
Salmonella
raw meat, poultry and eggs, flies, sewage and contaminated water
symptoms in 6 - 48 hours
headache, limbs hurt, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever
lasts 1 - 7 days
Staphylococcus aureus
nose, mouth, skin, untreated milk
symptoms in 1 - 6 hours
severe vomiting, weakness, abdominal pain
lasts 6 - 24 hours