Improving Standards of Food Hygiene - By: jackauthors

Although the last few years have seen huge advances in standards of food hygiene, there are still nearly 100,000 cases of food poisoning reported every year across the UK – that’s nearly 275 a day! Although many of these cases are characterised by typical symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, the most severe cases include organ failure and death – especially in people who are already weak or vulnerable. To this extent, it is still highly important that households and businesses alike continue to work towards improving standards of food food hygiene, to ensure as few people come down with food poisoning as possible.

The most common cause of severe food poisoning is bacteria which, due to their tenacity and ability to multiply exceptionally quickly, always pose a health threat, no matter how high standards of food hygiene may appear. Just a single bacterium, for example, can multiply within a few hours into a colony capable of causing fatal food poisoning in children, the elderly, pregnant women or people who are already ill. Not all bacterial food poisoning is obvious within a few hours either; in some cases the bacteria continue to multiply inside the victim’s digestive system for days before illness occurs, at which point the food poisoning can be exceptionally serious.

Maintaining high standards of food hygiene is imperative if we are to avoid unnecessary deaths and illness in tens of thousands of people every year. It doesn’t take radical changes to make a difference; merely ensuring all employees attend a food hygiene training course, for example, is not only a legal requirement for food businesses, but will also bolster business – as the Safer Food, Better Business campaign is striving to make apparent. Within the home, some simple changes to the way we store, prepare and cook food will help keep friends and family safe – especially those who are particularly vulnerable.

Remembering to store raw foods separately from cooked and prepared foods is essential to prevent cross contamination that can make food just as dangerous when cooked as when raw. Although the process of cooking, if done thoroughly and correctly, kills the bacteria present in raw food, these bacteria can easily be transferred back to the cooked food should raw food touch, or drip on, the cooked food. The same principle applies to kitchen utensils; knives and chopping boards, for example, must be washed or changed after being used with raw food, before being used for ready-to-eat food. In short, nothing used on raw foods should be used on cooked or prepared food, without first being thoroughly washed.

It should also go without saying that anybody who comes into contact with any food should remove all hand and arm jewellery and wash their hands before handling food and after handling raw food. Anti-bacterial soap is most effective in maintain standards of personal hygiene and it is essential that you wash under your nails, as this is where the majority of dirt on hands accumulates. Also remember not to dry your hands on dirty towels or dish-cloths, as this will defeat the point of washing them in the first place! People who are ill should not come into contact with food whatsoever.

When cooking food, care should be taken to ensure the food is cooked thoroughly and properly; all meat juices should run clear and there should be no pink meat inside pork or poultry. Food should always be piping the whole way through before being served and never re-heated more than once. Vulnerable people should not be given partly-cooked foods; runny eggs, for example, contain harmful salmonella bacteria that can be lethal!

By taking simple steps to further improve food hygiene, we can reduce the number of people who fall ill and die from food poisoning every year. Care in the home and provision of food hygiene training within food business is essential to help make food safer for everybody.

About the Author

Highspeed Training provide a wide range of online courses, from food Food Hygiene Certificates to Health and Safety Certificates. All food handlers can satisfy their legal requirement by taking the food Food Hygiene Certificate e-learning course. The course gives learners a basic awareness of good hygiene and safety issues and meets food industry recommendations.

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