BLBS102-c41 BLBS102-Simpson March 21, 2012 14:25 Trim: 276mm X 219mm Printer Name: Yet to Come
796 Part 8: Food Safety and Food AllergensTable 41.5.Four Simple Steps for Consumers to Ensure Food Safety (FightBac!TM)Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often
Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you
go onto the next food
Use plastic or other nonporous cutting boards
Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfacesSeparate: Don’t cross-contaminate
This is especially true when handling raw meat, poultry, and seafood
Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, or seafoodCook: Cook to proper temperatures
Use a clean thermometer that measures the internal temperatures of cooked foods to make sure meat, poultry, casseroles, and
other foods are cooked all the way through
Cook roasts and steaks to at least 145◦F. Whole poultry should be cooked to 180◦F for doneness
Cook ground beef, where bacteria can spread during processing, to at least 160◦F
Don’t use recipes in which eggs remain raw or only partially cookedChill: Refrigerate promptly
Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared foods, and leftovers within 2 hours or sooner
Never defrost at room temperatures. Thaw food in the refrigerator, under cold running water, or in the microwave. Marine foods
in the refrigerator
Divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers for quick cooling in the refrigeratorSource:FightBac!, Partnership for Food Safety Education. Available at http://www.fightbac.org.manufacturing practices (GMPs) and hazard analysis critical
control points (HACCP) programs are key control measures for
microbial, chemical, and physical hazards, not only at the farm
level, but also during food processing, transportation, storage,
and final preparation of foods prior to consumption. Further-
more, education and training of producers, processors, retailers,
restaurant personnel, and consumers are important in the im-
plementation of control measures to ensure the safety of foods
consumed. Also, adequate inspection of food processing facil-
ities and operations is very important to ensure that sanitation,
GMP and HACCP protocols are being followed on a consistent
basis. In order to implement a HACCP program successfully,
the management of food operations must be committed to the
program, by being aware of the benefits the program offers, and
be prepared to invest time and money into the program. The use
of microbiological testing as a verification tool for food safety
programs including HACCP is important in providing evidence
that indeed the control measures in place are effective. Finished
product testing alone must not be relied on as means of ensuring
food safety. The application of rapid methods for microbiologi-
cal tests provides a useful tool for ensuring production of a safe
food product at various points in the HACCP implementation.
Microbiological tests can be performed for (1) the raw materials
required for processing, (2) monitoring critical control points,
and (3) HACCP verification. The reliance on testing of finished
food products alone is a thing of the past. The challenge to food
microbiologists now is to develop on-line food safety testing
tools that can be used during food production. The limitation of
current rapid tests for foodborne pathogens is that they require
24 hours or more to complete because of the requirement for am-
plification of pathogen numbers to detectable levels. The abilityto detect pathogens at very low levels within seconds, minutes,
or in less than 24 hours is an important future development for
food microbiologists.
The likelihood of future increases in the incidence of food-
borne illness is high as a result of increases in the number
of susceptible aging populations, the treatment of disease with
immunosuppressing drugs, and increases in the availability of
ready-to-eat foods requiring no further processing prior to con-
sumption. Unless steps are taken to implement food safety pro-
grams, which can reduce microbial contamination of foods at
all levels of food production, processing, and retailing, and to
educate restaurant personnel and consumers about the safe han-
dling of foods, outbreaks of foodborne illness will continue
to occur.REFERENCES
Baird-Parker AC. 1994. Food and microbiological risks.Microbiol-
ogy140: 687–695.
Baird-Parker TC. 2000. Chapter 1. The production of micro-
biologically safe and stable foods. In: BM Lund, TC Baird
Parker, GW Gould, (eds.), The Microbiological Safety and
Quality of Food, vol. 1, Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, MD,
pp. 3–18.
Bean NH. et al. 1990. Foodborne disease outbreaks, five-year sum-
mary, 1983–1987.Morbility and Mortality Weekly Report39:
15–57.
Bibek R. 1996. Chapter 6.Fundamental Food Microbiology, CRC
Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp. 61–72.
Beuchat LR. 1995. Pathogenic microorganisms associated with
fresh produce.Journal of Food Protection59: 204–216.