Teaching personal hygiene & sanitation, preparing and storing food at suitable temperatures, and other safe food handling techniques is essential for adopting safe food handling. Proper food handling is crucial to ensuring that our meals are healthy and delicious. Get SITXFSA002 assessment answers to know better about this course.
The Importance of Proper Food Handling and Why It Matters
Inappropriate food handling can create epidemics of food-borne diseases. Thus people must learn how to do it safely. (commonly known as food poisoning). As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), food poisoning can lead to permanent disability or even death.
Government authorities all over the world keep a close eye on food handling. It is a potential threat to public health & safety. Finance is highly related to food safety. So, students can have finance assignment help to have a clearer idea about it.
However, organizations in the food service industry consistently implement safe food handling procedures. It may reduce the occurrence of food-borne illnesses and earn their customers’ trust. The assessment answers are there to provide clearer data about it. It helps to lower the likelihood of regulatory noncompliance.
Procedures for Handling Food
Permittees and owners of food service facilities in the United States must appoint a manager. Also, take on the role themselves to ensure compliance with the Food & Drug Administration’s Food Code 2017. The manager is responsible for ensuring that all staff keeps the oven, refrigerator, and freezer in the proper settings at all times.
By Australia’s Food Standards Code, organizations dealing with food. They must guarantee that their employees are competent and knowledgeable about food safety and cleanliness issues. It is also the food industry’s responsibility to take the appropriate precautions to reduce the risk of food contamination.
The Repercussions of Improper Food Handling
On June 9, 2021, the public health agency of King County, Washington, announced that 13 persons who had eaten at a specific restaurant had become ill with gastroenteritis. Medical News Today reports that ingestion is the most common way to contract a norovirus infection. Through tainted food or direct contact with a contaminated surface.
Keeping correct separations up, so no one touches ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands.
Maintenance and sanitation of items that don’t come into contact with food
How to clean, store, and use a rag properly.
As we saw with Blue Bell Creameries, poor food handling not only puts people’s lives in danger. But also has far-reaching legal consequences. The ice cream produced through the company had a link with a deadly Listeria outbreak in 2015. So, Blue Bell paid the US Department of Justice $19.35 million to resolve its criminal culpability.
In 2020, the firm settled a $60 million shareholder lawsuit filed in 2017 over alleged wrongdoing. It led to a product recall. In 2021, its insurers will sue Blue Bell for failing to ensure a safe and sanitary manufacturing environment. Get assessment answers to have a clearer idea about it.
How do you ensure that your food is handled safely?
The four main safe food handling methods are cleaning, separating, cooking, and cooling. Below, we will detail how to safely handle dairy, meats and fish, eggs, fruits and vegetables, frozen items, and dried goods.
● Clean
The first rule of food preparation is always good to hand washing. When washing your hands, it’s most effective to do so with warm water & ordinary soap. At a minimum, you should spend 20 seconds cleaning your hands. In addition to washing their hands and forearms, food handlers should also sterilize. Also, dry any utensils, plates, or other containers that will come into contact with the food they will be preparing.
● Separate
Always separate raw meat, birds, seafood, & eggs from other items. Do not reuse any equipment which has come into contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs. Until it has been thoroughly cleansed in hot, soapy water. Utensils are subject to identical regulations.
● Cook
When a dish is finished cooking, a food thermometer must check the interior temperature. Each food category has an optimal cooking temperature range inside its interior. Suppose the temperature of the food served is outside the acceptable range. It should not be sent out for service. This is done to ensure that no dangerous germs survive from the kitchen to the plate.
● Chill
The refrigerator should be kept at fewer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Consider installing temperature sensors for peace of mind. Instead of manually checking the temperatures using an appliance thermometer multiple times a day. When the internal temperature of a refrigerator or freezer rises to over 40 degrees Fahrenheit. These sensors can sound an alarm. The optimal setting for freezers is 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
Safe Dairy Food Handling Procedures
- There is an exception for hard cheeses, aged for at least 60 days. You should avoid purchasing, using, or serving dairy products made with unpasteurized milk.
- Once milk or other dairy products are removed from their containers, they should not be returned to them.
- In general, dairy products like milk, butter, yogurt, & cheese benefit from being stored at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the fridge.
- Shelf-stable milk, including evaporated, condensed, & Ultra-High Temperature milk. It could be kept at room temperature indefinitely if the container has not been opened.
- Shelf-stable milk, however, needs to be refrigerated at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) once it has been opened.
- Keeping butter in the fridge at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) will keep it fresh for up to two weeks.
- After two weeks, it must be packaged and frozen at 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The ideal butter temperature for dessert recipes is 71 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Except for fresh whole or skim milk, dairy products such as yogurt and cream should not be frozen.
- When cutting hard cheese, remove the moldy region as well as some of the surrounding cheese if possible. Cheddar, Swiss, Dutch, & Parmesan are all examples of hard cheeses.
- Soft cheese should be thrown out if mold is apparent. Soft cheeses include popular varieties including Brie, feta, ricotta, & cottage cheese.
Guidelines for Safe Meat and Fish Handling
- Meat, poultry, and seafood should not be washed.
- Meat and poultry defrosted in the microwave should be cooked.
- Thaw meat & poultry in cold water, but make sure to either keep it in its original packing or seal it in a leak-proof bag.
- Every 30 minutes, you must replenish the ice water.
- Frozen meat and poultry should not be cooked in a slow cooker.
- Keep meat marinating only in the fridge.
- Ground meat needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 °F for optimal safety and quality.
- All cuts of beef, pig, veal, & lamb must be cooked to an internal temp of 145 degrees Fahrenheit or higher and allowed to rest for about 3 minutes before adding.
- The shells of clams, oysters, & mussels should open when cooked.
Guidelines for the Safe Handling of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
- Remove any bruised or swollen tissue.
- Even if you want to toss the peel, running your produce under cold water is still a good idea before you start preparing it.
- Don’t wash up with soap or anything else.
- If a package of fruit or veggies says “pre-washed,” you don’t need to clean it. There are so many aspects students need to understand. So they can easily have Online Assignment help from experts.
