Friday, January 7, 2011

JOURNAL: Guidelines for Domestic Kitchen Food Safety

Summary: 10 to 30% of the population of industrialised countries are believed to suffer from food‐borne disease annually. Contamination of food with dangerous bugs (i.e. bacteria and viruses) is a major cause of such illnesses. Consumers have a key role to play in disease prevention through good hygiene and food safety practices within the home.

A series of international food safety conferences were organised from 2003 to 2005 as part of the European Union Risk Analysis Information Network (EU‐RAIN) project (www.eu‐rain.com). This booklet focuses on food safety in the home as discussed by experts at these conferences. To increase the general level of awareness of the bugs that cause food poisoning, short summaries on the most frequently implicated bugs are provided. Bacterial bugs discussed include Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Staphylococcus, Yersinia, Shigella, Clostridium and Escherichia coli, while viral bugs covered include Norovirus, Rotavirus, Hepatitis A virus and Hepatitis E virus. Associated foods and disease symptoms are described. Information on the BSE associated illness, variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease (vCJD), and chemical and physical hazards in food are also discussed. Specific guidelines for food safety in the home are then outlined, with the background behind their use explained. Areas covered include: (1) keeping your kitchen clean and well maintained; (2) avoiding cross‐contamination; (3) being a responsible food handler; (4) using your fridge correctly; (5) avoiding problems with frozen foods; (6) cooking food properly; (7) taking extra care if cooked food is not eaten immediately; (8) storing non‐perishable foods correctly; (9) washing fruit and vegetables; (10) being vigilant for signs that food has ‘gone off’; (11) ensuring that pets or pests don’t contaminate food; (12) avoiding chemical residue problems; and (13) being food safety aware while on holidays.

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