FOOD SAFETY AND SANITATION

Food safety and sanitation is extremely important for everyone’s health .Food is easy to cross contaminate when proper precautions are not followed.

According to Kinton, Ceserani and Fosket (1996:452 ) it is important for caterers  to be certain  that the food that they are producing is safe to eat. In order to do so it is advisable for the caterers or food producers to have food committees at all times during food handling. To ensure that safe and quality food is produced for the customers the following steps or working conditions must be taken into consideration.

1.    Food handlers must at all times maintain a high standard of personal hygiene.

2.    Personal clothing and belongings must be stored  away from food, equipment, utensils, and linens

3.    Ready to eat food must not be handled with bare hands, the use of suitable utensils such as of tongs, deli paper and safety food gloves should be put into practice.

4.    Ready to eat food and raw food must always be kept at the right temperatures

It is the responsibility of a food production employee to handle food in a hygienic manner and paying attention to food and hygiene regulations. It is not appropriate or safe for an ill person to handle food. (Lillicrap and Cousins, 2010: 48)

The Michigan food law (2000) states that it is important for food handlers to clean their hands thoroughly in a proper way with hand soap and sanitizers before handling food to prevent bacteria in the hands from passing into the food and to also kill germs. To prevent cross contamination of food, it is advisable to store food separately .Example, separating raw meat from ready to eat meat during storage, preparation and display. Equipment and utensils must always be cleaned before use. Food employees should have clean protective clothing and cover their hair with appropriate hair nets.  Smoking, eating, and drinking are not allowed by food employees in the food preparation and service areas.

 

 

Customers should be served with fresh nutritious well prepared food which is safe to eat at all times.

 

REFERENCES

 

www.michiganfoodlaw.co.uk

Bernard Davis ,Andrew Lockwood Peter Alcott and Loannis Pantelidis (2012) Food and Beverage Managemet, 5^th edition, Routledge  Canada

 

Kinton Ronald , Ceserani Victor  and Fosket David (1996)Theory of catering  8^th

 Edition

 

 Lillicrap Dennis and Cousins John , 2010)Food and Beverage service 8^th  edition, Hodder Education  UK