Keeping Food Safe

Throughout history, man has endeavoured to find ways of making fresh food last longer by preventing it from becoming inedible or rancid. Whilst doing so they have inadvertently developed mechanisms that keep it safe too. Many of the methods used today were discovered accidentally many years ago, but with the advent of knowledge and technology food preservation has become a science in itself.

In today’s world we use various combinations of historical and modern technology to ensure that food is safe to eat. Before discussing the most common techniques there are a few facts about bacteria that you need to know:-

Most Bacteria Like

1. A warm environment between 8°C and 60°C
2. A certain degree of available moisture known as water activity
3. A food source that is rich in nutrients, for example meat, fish, eggs, milk or starchy foods such as rice and pasta
4. Plenty of time.

If all or some of the above are available then bacteria can multiply at an alarming rate. The number present can double in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, consequently it only take a few hours for one bacteria to multiply to more than one million.

Generally speaking, most modern day methods for keeping food safe rely upon taking bacteria out of their comfort zone by removing one or more of the environmental factors that they thrive on or by adding things that slow down their growth.

It must be noted that some of the controlling factors described below are not usually used in isolation, as this would result in foods that are unpleasant to eat at the levels described. They are purely mentioned to demonstrate the extremes of the controls required if they are to be used in isolation.

More information on Artisan Food Safety can be sourced here http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle/dp/B00K34H650/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_eos_detail … … … … …

And the easy to use HACCP document Our Kitchen Rules is available to purchase by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com http://http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OUR-KITCHEN-RULES-EASY-ALTERNATIVE-TO-SAFER-FOOD-BETTER-BUSINESS-SFBB-HACCP-/161937202759?hash=item25b4359e47:g:LmUAAOSwDNdVz19
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RAPID COOLING OF FOOD IS IMPORTANT TOO

You might well wonder why cooling food as quickly as possible is considered so 
important when considering food safety. After all, if you've cooked the food thoroughly then you should have killed all the bacteria that are present.

Generally speaking this is true, but there are a few crafty food borne bacteria that have the ability to protect themselves from harm when threatened with an environment that is to hot for them. When the food cools down again they can start to grow and in doing so produce food poisoning toxins.

To explain further, these types of bacteria, under normal conditions, reproduce by replicating their DNA, which they encapsulate within spores inside the bacteria themselves. They then release the spores which subsequently germinate into active bacteria. The spores created are resistant to heat and chemical attack and this cycle is known as sporulation. It is during sporulation, particularly when the spore is being released, that toxins are produced.

When heat is applied to food containing spore forming bacteria, the bacteria are automatically thrown into the sporulation cycle to ensure survival, thus many spores are created which then go on to survive any heat treatment. When the food cools down, they germinate and if conditions are favourable the cycle starts again and toxins are produced.

Consequently, a thoroughly cooked food is not always a safe food and other control measures are needed to keep it safe for longer. The main spore forming bacteria are:-

Bascillus Cereus

Found in foods that have been in contact with the soil or of vegetable origin e.g. rice.

Clostridium Perfringens

Widely distributed in the environment and foods, and forms part of the normal gut flora in man and animals.

Clostridium Botulinum

Found in foods that have beenin contact with the soil or of vegetable origin e.g. garlic, herbs etc.

Further information on food safety controls can be found in "Artisan & Speciality Food Production - Food Safety Essential" available via Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle/dp/B00K34H650/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_eos_detail … … …

Information on cooling is also available in "Our Kitchen Rules" the generic catering HACCP plan, formulated by an experienced food safety officer, which is simple to use and an easy alternative to using "Safer Food Better Business"

It's available to purchase by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com