Food Safety Flashcards
What is a foodborne illness? Can you always tell when it occurs?
- Caused by consumption of contaminated food by micro-organisms, chemicals, other foreign material
- Can’t always tell whether a food is contaminated from taste, odour, or appearance
What are the symptoms of foodborne illness?
Symptoms include stomach cramps, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea,
vomiting
What are the factors of foodborne illness? Explain.
- Poor temperature control (75%)
- Danger zone is 4-60 C (range in which microorganisms grow and multiply at fastest rate)
- Maximum continuous period of time food can remain in danger zone is 2 hours
- No longer than 4 hours total time in danger zone (from time food is received until served) - Cross-contamination (20%)
- Transfer of pathogenic microorganisms from one food to another food or from another object (hands) to food
- Hands, cleaning clothes, raw foods that are dripping, utensils - Soil or other contamination (5%)
Who is most susceptible to foodborne illness?
More susceptible people include (YOPI) young, old, pregnant, immunity compromised
What is a carrier?
Someone who does not show any noticeable signs of being sick, but carries microorganisms that can be transferred to food or other people and cause a foodborne illness
What are some safety procedures?
- Maximum time to store leftovers in fridge before eating them is 2 days. If more, microwave really well to kill bacteria
- Maximum time to safely leave perishable foods at room temperature is 2 hours
- Heat/reheat foods to temperatures of 60 C or higher
Cool foods to temperatures of 4 C or lower (fridge temperature) - You can’t kill bacteria with refrigeration (0-4 degrees C)
What are foodborn pathogens?
- Microorganisms that cause illness in humans and that were transmitted by consumption of food
- Pathogenic means disease-causing
What is a foodborne infection? What happens (incubation time, symptoms)?
- Illness that results from eating food containing living, disease-causing microorganisms
- Pathogens are present and grow in gastrointestinal (GI) tract often in large numbers
- Pathogens enter body and multiply in GI tract
- Incubation time is normally more than 6 hours and lasts a few days
- Symptoms include diarrhea, cramps, fever
What is a foodborne intoxication? What happens (incubation time, symptoms)?
- Illness caused by eating food containing harmful toxins
- Toxin produces the illness (from bacteria, molds, certain plants or animals like mushrooms or puffer fish)
- Incubation period is a few hours to 36 hours (usually less than 4 hours)
- Duration is 2-5 days
- Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, cramps but no fever
What is a toxin-mediated infection? What happens (incubation time, symptoms)?
- Caused by eating food containing harmful microorganisms/pathogens which produce a toxin once they get inside the intestinal tract
- Toxigenic bacteria produce harmful toxins as they multiply, die, and break down
- Symptoms of both infections and intoxications: abdominal pain, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), vomiting, dehydration, but typically no fever
- Incubation period is a few hours to 2-7 days
- Duration of illness is 1 day – 2 weeks
What is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points)?
- Process that looks at and controls all important aspects of food production and development
- Assess the hazards: identify and determine level of risk
- Identical Critical Control Points (Points, steps, or procedures at which something could go wrong, but control can be applied to eliminate, prevent, or lessen a food safety hazard to acceptable levels)
- Set up procedures and standards for CCPs
- Monitor the CCPs
- Take corrective action
- Verify the system is working
- Keep records
What are potentially hazardous foods and their characteristics?
- Any perishable food which can support rapid growth of pathogenic or toxigenic microorganisms
- High in protein, moist, pH > 4.5, need extra care at every stage of the flow of food
What are the optimal conditions of bacteria?
FAT-TOM
- Food (high protein foods)
- Acidity (pH between 4.6-7.0)
- Time (no longer than 4 hours total time in the danger zone)
- Temperature (danger zone between 4 and 60 C)
- Oxygen (foodborne pathogens can grow with or without oxygen)
- Moisture (high water activity level, sugar binds water so sugary foods tend to be low in water activity)
What is the difference between clean and sanitary? What is sanitizing?
Clean = free of visible soil and food waste
Sanitary = free of harmful levels of contamination
Sanitizing = use of heat or chemicals to destroy 99.9% of pathogens on a food contact surface (vinegar, lemon juice)
