The four principles of good food hygiene
In the field of food safety and proper food handling, there are four recognized principles by which the food industry regulates how it relates to all aspects of food hygiene.
Together, these principles work to cover all critical areas where food contamination occurs.
By observing these principles, we greatly minimize the hygiene risks involved in handling food and the consequent contamination of food.
The four golden rules of food hygiene are:
Buy food from a safe source.
Prevent bacteria from entering your food.
Prevents the multiplication (or development of growth) of bacteria in your food.
Destroys bacteria on food, utensils and work surfaces.
Rule No.1)
Buy food from a safe source.
Make sure you buy food only from known and reputable suppliers. It is important to check that all food is within its expiration date and is kept in adequate conditions in the store.
Service counters need to be kept spotlessly clean, as do machines like choppers, knives, and slicers.
Freezers, refrigerators, and chillers must display their temperatures and must be set to less than 5 degrees Celsius for refrigerated products and -18 degrees Celsius or less for frozen products.
All packaging must be original and not tampered with or counterfeit. This would indicate that the product does not have the original content and has been produced by a fraudulent company. Do not buy these products under any circumstances because they threaten your health.
All reputable retail businesses that sell food must display current licenses from all required regulatory authorities as required by law. Check with your local authority to find out what licenses a food store or supermarket must have to be open to the public in your area.
Rule No.2)
Prevent bacteria from entering your food
ok! This is the rhythm to tell you a little bit about bacteria and how they multiply.
All bacteria, when they have the right conditions, begin to multiply. The conditions they need are,
a) a temperature above 10 degrees Celsius (some say 5 degrees).
b) A source of food. Bacteria break down all organic matter into sugars and use the basic food molecule glucose monosaccharide for their metabolism.
Bacteria need only 20 minutes to adapt to a new food source. For example, supposing that a bacterium was in a sugary food and suddenly found itself in the fish, the transition that the bacterium would need to be able to digest the new food source is twenty minutes.
c) A water fountain.
By acquiring the right conditions, the bacteria begin to reproduce at the rate of a division of the entire colony every 20 minutes. EG If you had 1000 bacteria in a piece of food to start with, you will have a million bacteria after 20 minutes. In the next 20 minutes, the number would increase to a million million bacteria. After that, the numbers are simply astronomical!
Preventing bacteria from entering food is mainly due to the prevention of cross contamination.
Cross contamination means the contact of any food source with any form of contamination from another source. These could be other foods (raw or processed), packaging, garbage, contaminated water or air, dirty or sick humans, animal life, or dirty tools and surfaces.
In good professional kitchens there are different refrigerators for different functions. For example, there is one fridge for dairy, another for cold fresh vegetables and another for cooked food.
As homeowners, we do not usually have this luxury, so it is advisable to cook food in the upper part of the refrigerator and raw materials in the lower part in closed containers. In this way the risk of contamination is considerably reduced.
Eggs, especially, should be kept in a closed container because they have a lot of bacteria on the outer shell.
Remember to wash your hands and arms up to the elbow before preparing food. Cut salads first and then move on to the foods to be cooked, making sure to wash the board thoroughly before moving on to the different types of food.
Wash all surfaces before and after work with a good detergent. Put the cloths in the wash after each use. Always start with a clean cloth.
Rule No.3)
Avoid the multiplication of bacteria in your food.
As stated above, bacteria need the right conditions to divide. For this they need A) the right temperature, B) Food and C) water.
It follows, then, that food should be stored at the lowest temperature possible to keep bacteria inactive. Also, don’t let your food come into contact with water before you cook it. By thawing food in water, we are giving bacteria an advantage.
Cook your food as soon as possible and after cooking keep it at a temperature of at least 70 degrees Celsius until serving time.
If you have to chill your food, don’t put hot food in large containers in the refrigerator. Divide it into smaller containers and do not stack them in such a way that air cannot circulate around the containers. Once cold, freeze if possible.
When defrosting food, do it in the refrigerator in a closed container. Remember, it’s better to plan a meal a couple of days in advance than to have to take a couple of days off in bed due to illness.
Once thawed, cook food as soon as possible.
The best way to destroy all bacteria is to cook food in a pressure cooker. In this way, the combination of increased temperature and increased atmospheric pressure will completely sterilize the food.
Rule No. 4).
Destroys bacteria on food, utensils and work surfaces.
This rule speaks for itself. Do not let them develop in your kitchen.
Cook food as quickly as possible. Foods that cannot be cooked should be frozen if not eaten within a short time.
Alternative forms of food preservation, such as dehydration, smoking, canning, sterilization, concentration, and pickling, are alternative ways to prevent the growth and destruction of bacteria in food.
The environment is also a source of food contamination, so wash your work surfaces after each use with hot water and detergent.
In professional kitchens, all work areas should be clad in stainless steel. In this way, the surface can be cleaned with special chemicals for removing fats and lime that have a base of caustic soda or a base of phosphoric acid. For safety, remember to never mix chemicals; especially acids and alkalis such as caustic soda and phosphoric acid.
Also, wash all utensils with very hot water and dishwashing detergent. The water should be so hot that you need gloves to tolerate the heat.
Store pots, pans, plates, cutlery, and other utensils in a clean, dry place. Make sure they are dry before you store them. Use a clean kitchen towel each time. Store them face down. Keep all storage areas clean. Check regularly for signs of vermin.
Heat the crockery to 80 degrees Celsius before serving. This will prevent further contamination.
These are the four principles of good food hygiene. Follow them closely and the chances of you or your clients getting sick are substantially reduced.