Lecture 1, Introduction to food hygiene and –safety + healthy nutrition Flashcards
How does food security differ from food safety?
Food security is a strategy of the country/state, which aims to provide inhabitants with sufficient quantity of safe and quality food (suitable for human consumption), which is produced locally e.g. in said country.
“Public good” is
a good that individuals cannot be effectively excluded from use and where use by one individual does not reduce availability to others.
“public goods” include fresh air, knowledge, lighthouses, national security, food security,
street lightings and etc
What is Quality? (4)
- Quality as perfection = free of defects of production and services.
- Usability and fitness for use.
- Quality as a measurable characteristic.
- Quality as a value judgment e.g. ethical value.
Ranking of important criteria for consumers
Top five:
Taste
Natural/non-GMO
Healthy
Family likes it
Regional origin
What is food quality from the perspective of Customers and food establishments? (7)
– Organoleptic quality;
– „Freshness”;
– Functional properties;
– Storage conditions and shelf-life;
– Nutritional quality;
– Monetary value and price;
– Food safety.
What is food quality from the perspective of public health? (3)
– Food safety (!)
– Nutritional quality
– Should be in accordance with the legislative
requirements.
Food Quality could be simply defined by the following statement:
the sum of properties contributing to the ability of meeting all necessary and/or expected requirements.
Food safety is (broadly)
a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways
that prevent foodborne illness.
Food safety policy and actions should cover
the entire food supply chain from the environment, production, processing, and supply, up to food preparation and consumption.
Food safety assures you that
the food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and / or eaten according to its intended use (Codex Alimentarius
Commission, Rome, 2023).
Food safety involves all measures to prevent adverse health effect of food caused by (3)
biological, chemical and physical hazards.
Biological hazards in food include: (7)
prions, viruses, bacteria, molds, yeasts, protozoa and other parasites able to cause human infections / intoxications.
Chemical hazards in food include: (6+)
residues of sanitizing agents;
residues of pesticides;
drug residues; lubricants,
heavy metals, dioxins etc
Physical food hazards:
glass, metal, plastic, wood, stones, bone pieces.
Most common food allergens:
Nuts (including groundnuts),
milk, eggs, soybeans,
crustaceans, molluscs,
celery, mustard, lupine,
sulfur dioxide and sulphites.
And much more!
A Consumer expects that food is:
– free of disease causing microorganisms;
– free of contaminants
* dioxines;
* mycotoxins;
* drug residues;
* growth hormones;
* heavy metals;
* polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAH-s;
* polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB-s) and etc.
– with sufficiently long shelf-life;
– cheap, but with high quality;
– healthy
What is food hygiene?
Food hygiene is all conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of the food
chain (Codex Alimentarius Commission, Rome, 2023).
The aims for applying food hygiene measures are: (3)
- Protect food from contamination. Food protection from biological, chemical and physical contamination.
- Prevent multiplication of microbes to levels which are able to cause infections/intoxications for humans.
- Prevent rapid spoilage of food.
There are how many known foodborne diseases?
200 known foodborne diseases
SAFE and HEALTHY means food which fit for human consumption according to following criteria: (5)
- Do not cause food related infections and intoxications.
- Does Not exceed the permitted limits for residues (maximum residue limits, MRL).
- Is free of visible contamination.
- Is produced under adequate hygiene control.
- Fulfills customer demands for food ingredients and food production/preparation method.
Food intolerance is mainly caused by
a lack of a specific food digestion enzyme OR because of certain food contaminants, toxins and other chemical substances present in food,
such as biogenic amines (histamine in foods).
Allergy is
a condition in which a person becomes hypersensitive/allergic to some
substance/s e.g. foods etc.
Difference between food intolerance and allergy.
Food intolerance is localized to the digestive system, typically the result of an enzyme deficiency that prevents your body from properly breaking down a certain substance.
Food allergy affects the immune system, is a systemic hypersensitivity reaction to food proteins.
ACP
allergen control plan
A plan food production enterprises uses to avoid allergen cross-contamination with resultant recalls and potentially adverse or possibly fatal physiological reactions from consumers.
ACP measures
allergen control plan measures
– allergen identification and control from the incoming ingredients to the final product or food.
– allergen assessment as a part of the hazard analysis.
