Why is it important to have Food Safety training?

27 November 2018

Every restaurant needs to take pride in serving safe and great food to their customers. It is one of the most important focuses in all food establishments. A thorough understanding of food safety is essential for food handlers to demonstrate food hygiene best practice, to prevent risk of contamination or foodborne illnesses. Food handlers and food businesses are responsible for the safety of the food that they provide to consumers. Their responsibilities include ensuring food is safe for consumption, and that its quality meets expectations.

The different types of foodborne illnesses

Chemical contamination

Chemical contaminants may be harmful to health at certain levels. It is necessary to manage their levels in food and reduce exposure to consumers. This type refers to food that been contaminated with some type of chemical. Chemical contaminants can enter the food chain from multiple sources. Contamination can occur during primary production from various environmental sources including:

• Pollution
• Waste from factories
• Landfills
• Incinerators
• Fires
• During cooking and processing
• Storage – mycotoxins
• Transportation and handling
• Time, temperature and humidity

Common types of chemicals are in cleaning products you use to clean the kitchen. However there are certain chemicals that occur naturally in food. There are many natural chemicals present in our foods, including nutrients such as vitamin C as well as chemicals responsible for the aroma and flavour that we love in our foods. Natural food chemicals may also be poisonous to humans, which is why some plants are poisonous to eat.

Physical contamination

This type refers to contamination by a foreign object at some stage of the production process. These objects have the ability to injure someone and can also potentially carry harmful biological contaminants, which causes illness. Examples of physical contamination include;

• Band-aids
• Fingernails
• Pieces of cooking equipment

These are the last thing you would like to find on your meal. That is why all bandaids must be bright blue by people working with food so it is easily identifiable as its an unnatural colour in the food industry.

Biological contamination

This type refers to the food that has been contaminated by substances produced by living creatures, such as humans, rodants, pests or microorganisms. This includes bacterial contamination, viral contamination or parasite contamination that’s transferred through;

• Salvia
• Pest droppings
• Blood
• Fecal matter

Baterial contamination is thought to be the most common cause of food poisoning worldwide. Bacteria need a constant source of food to survive, especially protein. High protein foods such as meat are particularly vulnerable to biological contamination from bacteria, which means they’re considered high-risk foods.

If you are looking to get qualified in Food Safety (HACCP)  have a look at our course breakdown here.