What is Food Safety?

What is food safety?

Food Safety means following food safety procedures and routines to prevent food borne illness during the food preparation cycle. This cycle is broken into critical control points (CCP) to aid in the control of hygiene and the prevention of contamination.

Food borne illness and poisoning are a direct result of eating contaminated food. Food is contaminated due to poor hygiene. Illness occurs when contaminated food is ingested and can results in illness and sometimes death.

Food Safety ensures that during the whole critical control process (known as CCP) as shown in the diagram above, food items are kept.

• fresh;
• healthy; and
• hazard free for the consumer.

Food Safety is the responsibility of everybody involved in the process:

• The supplier of the ingredients – that the food delivered is kept at the correct temperature and not contaminated in transit.
• The store person/kitchen hand/chef – receiving and storing food safely and within the correct time frames and at the right temperature.
• The chef preparing the meal – maintaining good personal and kitchen hygiene.
• The waiting staff serving the customer, and the safe removal of wasted food items.

Discussion

Consider the flow of food in your home kitchen or work kitchen; can you apply the flow of food and identify any gaps that you have in food safety? Please share your observations in the comments.