Food SafetyPersonal PracticesHFA 4MI

Food Handling and Illness

• Food handling practices• Can cause contamination• Can allow microorganisms to grow• Can fail to control growth when intended to do

so• All of these practices can cause foodborne illness

CLEAN!Fight BAC!

Personal Cleanliness:

• Wash hands before food preparation, after sneezing, coughing, using the rest room, and touching face or hair• Keep hair away from face• Wear clean clothes/apron (dirty clothing has

bacteria)• Don’t handle food with open cut or sore – STAPH• Avoid cooking and tasting with same spoon;

licking of fingers is prohibited.• Wash hands after handling raw meat/eggs

Handwashing

Purpose?• Remove soil• Remove pathogens• Reduce microbial load

How it actually works . . . • Soap lather pulls dirt and oily soils from the skin• Lather suspends soils and pathogens which are washed

away in running water

Hands also . . .

• Contact many other things:• Door knobs, stair rails, controls, money, telephones• Pick things up from the floor• Touch the face, hair• Remove soiled clothing• Place things in the garbage

Personal Practices

Personal Behaviour• Avoid:• Sneezing, coughing or

blowing the nose• Can distribute millions

of pathogens

• Spitting• Contaminates surfaces

and distributes pathogens

• A sneeze can move at a rate of 150 km per hour!

• Hazardous practices while handling food:• Eating or drinking• Chewing gum• Smoking

• Droplets of saliva can contain thousands of pathogen cells

SEPARATE!Fight BAC!

Cross-Contamination• Passing of

microorganisms or other harmful substances indirectly from one source to another• Examples:• Cutting board used for

raw meat, then salad vegetables

• Handling money or using phone then handling food without handwashing

Practices that cause contamination• Handling food when ill• Not washing hands correctly• Not wearing clean clothing• Not cleaning and sanitizing food contact surfaces

after use• Not protecting food when construction or

maintenance are being carried out

Avoid cross-contamination

• Keep meat and meat juice from vegetables• Keep work areas clean• Use clean spoon for tasting food• Two towels - drying dishes (tea towel)/

wiping hands (paper towel)• Use clean dishcloth each day

COOK!Fight BAC!

Using heat to control bacteria• Keep hot foods hot• Thoroughly cool hot foods and reheat

thoroughly• Bring sauces, soups, etc. to a boil when

reheating• Foods should not be in the danger

temperature zone for more than two hours• Use a clean thermometer to measure internal

temperature • Divide large amounts of leftovers in small,

shallow containers for quick cooking

CHILL!Fight BAC!

Using cold to control bacteria• Keep cold food cold (below 40°F)• Check temperature in refrigerator and freezer

periodically; freezer should be at zero degrees or below• Clean refrigerator often• Leftovers stored with tight cover• Thaw frozen foods in refrigerator• Do not leave on countertop to cool