Food safety and its importance matter for many, but mostly two ‘main’ reasons:
There are many various definitions of what food is, but for the purposes of catering, food may be defined as:
Any substance or product, whether processed, partially processed or unprocessed, that is intended to be, or reasonably expected to be, ingested by humans.
Therefore food is not only meal such as, burgers, steaks, salads, etc. Food includes drink, chewing gum, sweets, condiments, ice, flavourings and any substance, including water, intentionally incorporated into food during its manufacture, preparation or treatment.
Food safety and its importance can often by undervalued. But ignoring it might have series consequences. If food safety practices and handling standards are poor, food may become contaminated. This might result in people who consume said food to become ill. In extreme cases, food poisoning can be fatal.
If an incidence of food poisoning is traced back to particular business, both, the owner of food premises and an employee who was deemed negligent in preparing/serving the meal could be found liable. They could be prosecuted, and possibly fined, imprisoned, or have their business closed down. At the very least, it will most likely result in loss of customers.
Establishing good practices with regard to food safety will keep both customers and staff safe, and be good for business.
Food poisoning is an unpleasant illness which usually occurs within 1 to 72 hours of eating contaminated or poisonous food. Symptoms can be various and can include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting as the body seeks to remove the poisons and prevent damage to the vital organs. The condition can last usually from 1 to 7 days, but can last longer. Other symptoms that suggest a case of food poisoning is particularly serious and requires medical attention include passing blood, either by vomiting or in diarrhoea, slurred speech, blurred vision, or mental confusion.
Identifying the source of the poisoning is necessary, but not always straightforward. This is because the illness might not have been caused by the last food to be eaten.
Catering businesses can make a huge difference by following procedures and practices that promote food safety. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, simple systems and rules work best as people find them easier to remember and stick to. All of the procedures and practices together form what is known as Food Safety Management System. You can read more about it in our blog entry from 5th May 2023 titled Food Safety Management System (FSMS).
The Food safety Authority of Ireland is a statutory body with main function to ensure that food produced, distributed or marketed in Ireland meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene reasonably available and to ensure that food complies with legal requirements and recognised codes of good practice.
Food legislation is enforced on behalf of the FSAI by a network of official agencies working under service contract to the FSAI.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act, 1998 contains enforcement provisions which are in addition to the powers to prosecute and other provisions on specific pieces of food legislation. The provisions in the FSAI Act provide a means of reacting to and dealing with situations posing a risk to public health.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has the power to carry out the following in order to determine compliance with food legislation:
In July 2023 the FSAI issued ten Enforcement Orders served on food businesses. Commenting, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that while the majority of food businesses adhere to food safety regulations, it is clear that some businesses are not fully compliant. Dr. Byrne continued ” … All food businesses, from the established to the newly opened, must fully adhere with food safety regulations at all times. Enforcement action will be taken for transgressions, in the interest of public health protection.”.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
Food handling businesses are legally obliged to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on the seven principles of HACCP.
At first, the HACCP system may seem complex. However, the HACCP process is just a step-by-step process that examines how food is handled. The purpose of this process is to ensure the food produced is safe to eat.
The word HACCP is an abbreviation for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. To better understand the process, this abbreviation can be split in two parts:
The Seven Principles of HACCP are as follows:
This includes physical, chemical, microbiological and allergenic hazards. Once these hazards are identified, all the preventive measures for each hazard should be listed. Food safety hazard is anything that affects the safety and quality of food. A food safety hazards can endanger the health of a consumer. They can originate in the ingredients, the production process or the final product itself. Some additional information can be found in our blog entry from 5th May 2023 titled Food Safety Management System (FSMS).
There will be various points in the process where hazard exists, but not all of them can or need to be controlled. Food may contain bacteria when delivered, but as long as the food is heated thoroughly and sufficiently to kill all bacteria later on in the process, controlling the microbiological hazard on delivery is not critical. However, carrying out the heating step correctly is vital.
Once the critical control points have been identified, control actions can be decided and written down. Precise and clear measures and targets should be defined and documented for every CCP. The actions to be taken will obviously depend on the situation.
The control actions are then monitored at given intervals. This is to ensure daily control of critical processes. Monitoring in food service relies on various temperature measurements. Daily audits should be carried out to ensure equipment is set up and working correctly. In addition, regular audits will ensure that the hygiene processes are completed satisfactorily and that the food safety policy has been followed. The frequency of monitoring depends on the level of risk. All monitoring results should be recorded.
Keeping records of all monitoring results and procedures is helpful to ensure and to demonstrate that a food business has taken all reasonable precautions to minimise risks. Good documentation endorses the quality of the work performed.
For all CCPs, pre-planned corrective measures should be defined for situations when the control criteria are not met. For example, if food has not been cooked well enough, it should be cooked again or thrown out. The procedures to regularly measure the CCPs, as well as the responsible person for each task, need to be defined.
Checking that the HACCP system works. Any food safety system needs to be kept up to date. Audits, microbial testing, review of documents and evaluations of employee training will help to ensure this and that the HACCP system is working well and comprehensively. A regular review of practices should be carried out regularly to ensure that all the procedures are being actively followed at all times.
Any Food Safety Management System, HACCP included, must be documented. All records must be maintained and available for inspection when required. Records are important to demonstrate the system is being implemented and managed effectively. Records might include HACCP documentation, deliveries, temperature monitoring, pest control, sampling, customer complaints, cleaning schedules, staff training, etc. For convent, affordable and efficient staff training solutions please check eLearn Safety fully online food safety courses. The HACCP system should be reviewed annually, if there are any changes, or if something goes wrong.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has developed a guide that is based around the HACCP system. The Safe Catering Pack contains colour coded, easy to understand tick charts that cover hazards, controls and critical limits, monitoring/verification and corrective actions. General food safety information is also included as well as a wide range of forms for monitoring and taking records. This guide also includes specific/chemical contamination and food allergies.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
Pest Control in any food handling premises is an extremely important process. Food pests are a source of food poisoning organisms. When one talks about pests, the majority of people think of rats, mice, birds, flies, etc. Whilst they are a major food safety hazard from the Pest Control perspective, domestic pets are also a significant hazard. By being pets they are often not considered a danger. However, domestic pets should never be allowed into food handling areas. They carry bacteria in their fur, feathers, skin, saliva and intestines. Stroking or fussing cats, dogs or other pets will contaminate food handlers.
A food pest is an organism that lives on or in human food. Pests can contaminate food with bacteria and disease, but they can also cause physical contamination from droppings, urine, fur, feathers and even dead bodies.
Pest problems can result in lost revenue through damaged stock, gaining a bad reputation and in some cases legal action against the business.
According to the FSAI News Article from 13th July 2023, 12 Enforcement Orders served on food businesses in June. Some of the reasons for the Enforcement Orders in June include: a history of rodent activity with droppings found near fruit juice intended for children; open, ready-to-eat foods such as fresh lettuce suspected as having come into contact with rodents, with a likely risk of Salmonella; heavy cockroach activity in the kitchen, with dozens of live cockroaches spotted moving around food preparation areas, on the walls, floors, fridges, and inside food storage containers; a lack of adequate traceability systems and procedures for all products, undermining consumer safety; a failure to maintain the cold chain with insufficient fridge space to safely store high risk foods such as cooked rice and pasta; rodent droppings noted in the service area and near food storage; risk of cross contamination with ready-to-eat food such as smoked salmon stored next to raw food such as chicken and pork chops; and inadequate ventilation throughout the premises, evident by the large build-up of mould on the walls, ceilings and external doors.
Food premises often provide ideal conditions for pests as they provide food, warmth, shelter and water. It is therefore important to make sure premises are properly maintained to avoid pest infestation.
It should be part of any food handling business’ routine to check for signs of pest infestation. If any kind of pests activity is noticed and reported, this has to be dealt with immediately. It may be necessary to seek professional help from a pest control contractor or a local authority. It is always preferable to treat the problem by removing the pest. This avoids the possibility of it dying inside the food area and causing further contamination. Extreme care should be taken if chemical controls are to be used.
Prevention is better than cure and good housekeeping can play an important role in pest prevention. Some of the steps towards preventing pest infestation are:
All pests damaged goods should be removed and destroyed.
Common food pests that can be found in almost any, rural or urban setting are:
Food premises can be (and have been as mentioned above) closed down as a direct result of pest infestation. Pest problems should never be ignored!
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
To ensure food which has been frozen before use is safe to eat, safe methods of defrosting frozen foods have to be considered. There are some foods that are safe to cook straight from frozen. These are generally pre-prepared foods and manufacturer’s instructions will be on the packaging. All other foods will need to be defrosted thoroughly before cooking.
Defrosting food can produce a number of problems. The most common is cross-contamination if defrosting was not done correctly. The other common problem is under cooking. Frozen food is frozen in its core and it might take longer before it is safely cooked. This can be forgotten during the meal preparation and the food can stay undercooked.
The liquid from the food, a result of defrosting, that comes off raw meat can contain high levels of harmful bacteria. This can contaminate ready to eat foods if not treated carefully. The liquid has to be discarded carefully. All surfaces with which it came into contact must be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly. Protection of food whilst defrosting is very important. The food must be protected from physical and chemical contamination.
To ensure safe food, defrosting must be carried out in appropriate conditions. The food can be defrosted in:
The food can be defrosted in the fridge. A space should be made on the bottom shelf for frozen food. The frozen food should also be ideally sealed so that there is no chance of accidental contamination of other foods during handling. The fridge defrosting method will ensure that the food stays at a safe temperature as the food thaws.
The food can be defrosted under cold running water. As the outside of the food will defrost faster than the centre, this will help to keep it cool. If food is defrosted using cold running water, it must be placed in a container that does not retain water. For example, the colander can be used as a container.
Food can also be defrosted in the microwave. The care, however, must be taken to avoid cooking the surface while defrosting the centre.
Some ready-to-eat foods, such as cakes, may be safely defrosted at room temperature, following either the manufacturer’s instructions or the guidelines in the Food Safety Management System.
When the food is defrosted, it should be cooked as soon as possible after it has been defrosted. It is very important, however, to check that the food is completely defrosted before cooking. The food should be checked by sight. It should also be checked with fingers or a skewer. If any ice crystals remain inside the food, for example in the body cavity of the chicken, then the food needs to be allowed to thaw for longer. If the cooking process begins before the centre of e.g., a joint of meat has fully thawed, then while the outside will cook perfectly, the centre may not reach a temperature high enough to kill bacteria.
When defrosting food, it is useful to remember these key points:
SafeFood, an organisation that promotes food safety and provides nutritional advice has some additional useful tips on how to defrost food safely in their article How to defrost food safely.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
