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Food safety in Catering
Food safety remains a critical issue in catering. Foodborne diseases, especially infectious intestinal disease, represent a very large group of pathologies with a strong negative impact on the health of the population because of their widespread nature. Over 97% of all foodborne illness outbreaks associated with catering outlets can occur when caterers do not handle, cook or store food properly, such as cross-contamination of raw and cooked foodstuffs, inadequate cooking and storage at inappropriate temperatures.
In order to ensure food safety and prevent foodborne illness outbreaks, caterers should comply with the food regulations as well as implement their own Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. HACCP system can effectively enhance food safety and prevent foodborne diseases by minimizing the risks associated with the hazards to a level acceptable to the consumers.
HACCP
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system provides a structured approach to the identification and assessment of food safety hazards and of defining means of their control to which prevent the occurrence of these potential problems during the food production process.
The system focuses on prevention at every step of the food production process rather than detection of unsafe food products at the end of production. It provides an efficient right-first-time approach to food processing, thereby reducing the need for end product monitoring including microbiological testing.
There are seven principles in HACCP:
Principle 1: Hazards analysis
Principle 2: Determine the Critical Control Points (CCPs)
Principle 3: Establish critical limit(s) for CCPs
Principle 4: Establish monitoring procedures
Principle 5: Establish corrective action(s)
Principle 6: Establish verification procedures
Principle 7: Establish a record system
Microbiological Testing in food
Microbiological testing is useful to access the safety and quality of food involved, and can be one of the monitoring measures, which refer to the HACCP Principle 4: Establish monitoring procedures. For the assessment of hygiene quality, three different kinds of microorganisms will be tested, i.e. aerobic bacteria, E.coli and specific foodborne pathogens.
The colonies count of aerobic bacteria is commonly employed to indicate the sanitary quality of foods. E. coli is commonly used as an indicator to indicate whether there is direct or indirect fecal contamination of foods. Foodborne pathogenic bacteria may cause intestinal infection or produce toxins which lead to food poisoning. The presence of foodborne pathogen represents an unacceptable risk to health regardless of the number of bacteria present.
The result of microbiological examination of food will interpret with the “Microbiological guidelines for ready-to-eat Food” to see whether the food safety and hygiene quality meet the stipulated food safety and food quality requirement.
Water quality testing service
Testing method: Standing Committee of Analysts, The Microbiology of Drinking Water (2009) – Part 4A – Water Quality and Public Health. Methods for the Examination of waters and Associated Materials, Environment Agency.
Microbial indicator: Total Coliform, E.coli
Detection Limit: 1 CFU/100 ml
Turnaround time: 5 Working days
Sample Size: 200 ml
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Disclaimer: The information contained is educational and does not replace any legal requirements or applicable regulations. It is not intended to constitute consulting or professional advice. Chemlab HK does not warrant that it will be error-free or will meet any particular criteria of performance or quality. Do not quote or refer any information herein without Chemlab HK’s prior written consent.
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