Talk:Food safety
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[edit] Redirect
Why does this page redirect to Food Safety Network? This article should contain information on the concepts behind food safety, how it is accomplished, and so on. The redirect target does not even remotely address the subjects covered by a proper Food safety article. Although I do not have the expertise to create a proper Food safety page, someone with more knowledge in the area should remove this redirect and create a proper Food safety page. -Bodybasket210 08:55, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
- Agreed. Moved sections from Sterilization and from Foodborne illness and removed redirect. --Microbiojen 18:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
Why do several articles referenceFood and cooking hygiene but come back here. They Hygiene page references both articles and they both come here. Lost Link?
[edit] Headings
This article needs headings. It is a tad difficult to follow as is right now. Kukini 20:08, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
- Looks like West London Dweller granted your wish. --Microbiojen 22:51, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Lack of citations/references
The only section in this article supported by adequate citations is the first part of the "UK HACCP guidelines and other official information" section - all the others have been unreferenced since November 2006. I propose that the unreferenced sections are deleted once we hit November 2007. I don't have the time, or more importantly, the professional knowledge to update the article (giving wrong information here could kill people), so the safest form of action would seem to be to delete the unreferenced information. WLDtalk|edits 20:55, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
O.K - it's November now, so I have removed the unreferenced sections to this talk page. Please do not replace them without providing references - thank-you. WLDtalk|edits 13:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Domestic foodborne illness prevention
At home, prevention of Foodborne illness mainly consists of:
- separating foods while preparing and storing to prevent cross contamination. (i.e. clean cutting boards, utensils, and hands after handling meat and before handling ready-to-eat foods, etc.)
- washing and drying hands before handling ready-to-eat foods.
- not preparing food when sick or recovering from recent illness
- respecting food storage methods (hot foods hot and cold foods cold) and food preservation methods (especially refrigeration), and checking the expiration date;
- avoiding over-long storage of left-overs;
- washing the hands before preparing a meal, and before eating;
- washing fresh fruits and vegetables with clean water, especially when not cooked (e.g. fruits, salads), scrubbing firm fruits and vegetables with a brush to clean;
- washing dishes after use, rinsing them well in hot water and storing them clean and dry;
- keeping work surfaces and chopping boards clean and dry;
- keeping the kitchen and cooking utensils clean and dry;
- not relying on disinfectants or disinfectant-impregnated cloths and surfaces as a substitute for good hygiene methodology (as above);
- preventing pets walking on food-preparation surfaces.
[edit] Bacterial growth
Bacteria need warmth, moisture, food and time to grow. The presence, or absence, of oxygen, salt, sugar and acidity 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, hands 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 pickled 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.
[edit] 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 88 °C (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.
[edit] Critique
Note that the above advice is open to critique
- For example, some spore forming bacteria can survive cooking until the CORE TEMPERATURE is 75 °C or above - and may in fact be stimulated to grow. If food is cooked to a core temperature of 75 °C, it must be kept out of the "danger zone" (5 to 60 °C) thereafter to prevent spore formers from multiplying. Spore formers like Clostridium perfringens can cause serious gastroenteritis.
- Another problem is that although a core temperature of 75 °C will kill most dangerous vegetative bacteria it does not inactivate some toxins (eg staphylococcal enterotoxin). So it is possible to become ill after eating well cooked food, as the food may already be contaminated with toxins before cooking.
For more information, see Foodborne illness.
[edit] Merger proposal
I propose merging Food and cooking hygiene into this page. (they both need cleaning up too). FiveRings (talk) 02:32, 23 November 2007 (UTC)
Um, it appears that they are both one page anyway. Or if there has been a Food and cooking hygiene page elsewhere it has been lost.
M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.142.158.2 (talk) 14:00, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] The biggest vandalism is....
动态网络技术公司 because I am unable to access to this site unless through them —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.62.138.34 (talk) 12:14, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Food safety discussion at Wikiversity
Interested in cloning or growth hormones related to food safety? Visit the radio discussion at Wikiversity: >click here<. Add relevant links to the page and discuss at it's talk page. Cheers! --Gbaor (talk) 06:26, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Please do not auto direct....
ISO has published a series of standards regarding the Food safety management system and ISO 22000 is only one of them--222.67.216.32 (talk) 06:44, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
[edit] Please do not remove the link of .....
Food Administration —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.78.227.72 (talk) 11:58, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
[edit] Toxic??
Seems like a strange category that adds little to the topic. According to toxic article, the definition is used for dose-dependent poisons. I don't think that category is useful or appropriate for this article. If the article were entitled Food poisoning, I could see it. Bob98133 (talk) 13:09, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
