Module 1: Understanding Hazards Associated with Foods Cooperative Extension Services of Purdue University and Virginia Tech

Food Safety and Food Quality Food Safety: making a food safe to eat; free of disease causing agents Food Quality: making a food desirable to eat; good taste, color, and texture

Unacceptable Foods Poor QualityUnsafe bad colortoo many bacteria wrong texturetoxic chemicals smells badforeign objects

What are the Hazards in our Food? Biological: bacteria, viruses, parasites Chemical: sanitizers, pesticides, antibiotics Physical: bone, rocks, metal

How Do Foods Become Contaminated?

Controlling the Hazards Time and Temperature Separation

Biological Hazards “Biological” means “living” Biological hazards in foods include: Bacteria: Salmonella in chicken and eggs, E. coli in beef, Shigella in water Viruses: Hepatitis in water Parasites: Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora in water and produce

Examples of Biological Hazards In Meat and Poultry: Salmonella bacteria (poultry and eggs) E. coli bacteria (beef and ground beef) Trichinella spiralis parasite (pork)

Examples of Biological Hazards On Fruits and Vegetables: Salmonella bacteria (bean sprouts) E. coli bacteria (apple juice) Cyclospora parasite (raspberries) Hepatitis A virus (strawberries)

Examples of Biological Hazards

$5,000 Cash or... $1 doubled every 15 minutes for 4 hours Time$5,000$1.00 Beginning$5,000 $1 After 15 minutes $5,000 $2 After 30 minutes$5,000 $4 After 1 hours$5,000 $16 After 2 hours$5,000 $256 After 3 hours$5,000 $4096 After 4 hours$5,000 $65536

Control of Biological Hazards Hazards are controlled by: Controlling and monitoring storage and processing temperature Preventing cross-contamination Following the cleaning and sanitation program

Control Using Temperature Cooking helps to kill microbes >165 o F for poultry and eggs >155 o F for ground beef >160 o F for pork Holding at low temperatures (<40 o F) prevents microbes from growing Cooling from 140 o -40 o F quickly helps prevent microbes from growing

Chemical Hazards Chemical hazard: a toxic substance that is produced naturally, is added intentionally or non-intentionally Naturally-occurring: toxic substances produced by other living organisms Added intentionally: nitrates in meat, pesticide residues in feed Added non-intentionally: any unwanted substance (cleaning agents) Unidentified / wrong ingredient (colors)

Examples of Chemical Hazards In Meat and Poultry Nitrate agents (red meat) Aflatoxins, pesticides (feed) Growth hormones (livestock) Growth promoting drugs (poultry) Cleaners, sanitizing agents (meat and poultry)

Examples of Chemical Hazards

Control of Chemical Hazards Approved and legal chemicals (cleaners, sanitizers, hormones, pesticides) Use a safe level Letters of guarantee and vendor certification Proper procedures and rinsing (cleaners and sanitizers) Storage of feed (aflatoxin) Storage and labeling for ingredients and raw materials

Physical Hazards Physical hazard: a hard foreign object that can cause illness or injury Inherent to the food or ingredient Contaminant during processing

Examples of Physical Hazards In the food or ingredients Bone fragments (ground beef) Feathers from animal carcass (turkey) Contamination during processing Stones, rocks, dirt in vegetables Metal from processing equipment (ground beef) Jewelry, fingernails (food handler)

Control of Physical Hazards Separate and remove physical objects Filter or sieve (meat grinder) Water bath (vegetables) Metal detector (all foods) Good employee practices (jewelry) Good sanitation and quality control programs