Chapter 3 : Factors that affect food borne illness (preventing temperature abuse)

Chapter 3 : Factors affect Food borne Illness (temperature abuse)

What is Temperature abuse?

Time temperature abuse occurs when food is not stored or held at required temperatures, not cooked or reheated properly at high enough temperatures to kill microorganisms, or foods not cooled properly, and any time a food is allowed to remain in a temperature that is favorable to the growth of microorganisms.

Some food requires time and temperature control to make it safe.

It is called TCS ; time and temperature control for safety.

Disease causing pathogens can grow well in TCS food when it is kept at temperature range know as temperature danger zone. 

Chapter 3 : Factors that affect food borne illness

Introduction

Although the number of people suffering from food poisoning fluctuates from year to year, it's fair to say that recent times have seen a general increase in the level of foodborne illness. Although the 'official' figures (i.e. those formally notified/confirmed) have been falling recently, it is thought that these form only a small proportion of the total number of people who actually suffer from foodborne illness every year.

There are many suggested reasons for this:

There are more people eating meals out!

Chapter 2 : What is Food borne Illness?

How bacteria get in food

1.Bacteria may be present on products when you purchase them. Raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs are not sterile. Neither is produce such as lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, and melons.

2.Foods, including safely cooked, ready-to-eat foods, can become cross-contaminated with bacteria introduced on raw products, meat juices, or other contaminated products, or by poor personal hygiene.

The “danger zone”

Bacteria multiply rapidly between 40° and 140° F. To keep food out of this “danger zone,” keep cold food cold and hot food hot.

Store food in the refrigerator (40° F or below) or freezer (0° F or below).

Cook food to 160° F (145° F for roasts, steaks, and chops of beef, veal, and lamb).

Maintain hot cooked food at 140° F.

Reheat cooked food to 165° F.

Which Bacteria are Responsible for Food-borne Illness?

Some bacteria cause more serious illness than others, but only a few are responsible for the majority of cases. Below is information regarding nine prominent bacteria.

Chapter 2 : Microbiological Hazards

Microbiological hazards refer to those microorganisms (microbes) which can contaminate food. Microorganisms can take various forms.

Bacteria are single-celled microscopic organisms which can be killed by heat and the treatment of food with some chemicals. Viruses, mould, parasites and certain strains of yeasts are other microbiological hazards.

Microbiological hazards include food poisoning bacteria such as Salmonella, E.coli andBacillus Cereus. Bacteria are very small, visible only when examined under a microscope.

If food poisoning bacteria are present in food, the food may look, smell and taste normal. If such food is eaten it may result in illness, such as sickness and diarrhoea, and even cause death in some situations.

These food poisoning bacteria are hazardous because they can :

Survive inadequate cooking, if already present in food, for example, Salmonella in chicken

Multiply to harmful levels in food given the right conditions, for example, poor temperature control during storage, handling or hot holding

Spread from raw foods such as meat, poultry and unwashed vegetables to cooked/ready-to-eat foods either directly or via food handlers, work surfaces and equipment - this is known as "cross contamination".

WHAT BACTERIA NEED TO GROWTH

A potentially hazardous food is a natural or synthetic food that needs to be held at 41°F or colder or 135°F or hotter because it is in a form capable of supporting:

1. The rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxigenic bacteria

2.the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum or

3.in raw shell eggs, the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis

Potentially Hazardous Food 

Potentially hazardous foods include foods of animal origin that

are raw or heat-treated, a food of plant origin that is heat-treated

or consists of raw seed sprouts, cut melons, and garlic-in-oil

mixtures that have not been properly acidified to prevent the

growth of pathogenic bacteria.

a potentially hazardous food does not include:

1. an air cooled hard -boiled egg with shell intact, or a shell egg that is not hard-boiled but has been treated to destroy all viable salmonella. Such as pasteurized shell in the eggs.
2.  A food with a water activity value of 0.85 or less, such as jams or jellies.

A food with a pH level of 4.6 or below when measured at 75°F, such as properly prepared sushi rice or pickles.

A food, in an unopened hermetically sealed container, that is commercially processed to achieve and maintain commercial sterility under conditions of non-refrigerated storage and distribution.