CHARCUTERIE - How should it be stored and displayed

Charcuterie Displayed at Ambient Temperatures

One common complaint that I hear from retailers of fermented and air dried meats is that when their local food safety officer pops his head in, he expects to see such products under chilled temperature control.

However, when visiting the continent it is typical to see such products displayed openly at ambient temperatures and nobody seems to bat an eyelid.

Are there different laws across Europe you might wonder. Well there are a few exceptions but generally speaking food safety law is pretty standard across the continent and is formulated by the EU commission with the intention of creating a level playing field for trade. 

Fermented and air dried meats are not native to the UK and therein lies the problem.

In countries where Charcuterie has been traditionally made for centuries, there is a deeper understanding of the physical and chemical qualities that result in a safe product.

Fermented meats such as salamis have a very low pH, creating an acidic environment within which pathogenic bacteria find it it hard to survive and grow. Salamis are also dried to some extent and this further inhibits the growth of bacteria as there is very little water available, and without an adequate supply of water bacteria cannot multiply.

Similarly, air dried meats such as Serrano or Prosciutto hams contain high levels of salt and have  minimal amounts of water available to promote the growth of pathogens.

In reality, the safety of these products rely heavily on dryness and the use of refrigerated storage might compromise safety, especially if condensation were to form on the surface of the meats. 

Generally speaking, most continental style air dried and fermented meats do not support the growth of pathogenic bacteria and this is why it is safe to store and display them at ambient temperatures.

Further information on artisan food safety is available here 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle/dp/B00K34H650/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_eos_detail … … … … … … …

ARTISAN AND SPECIALITY FOOD PRODUCTION - FOOD SAFETY ESSENTIALS

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

"ARTISAN & SPECIALITY FOOD PRODUCTION" explains the food safety essentials for the safe preparation of - JAM, CHUTNEY, VINEGAR PICKLES, FERMENTED PICKLES, CHEESE, FERMENTED SAUSAGES, BILTONG & JERKY, SALTED & SMOKED FISH, CEVICHE, FLAVOURED OILS and foods cooked SOUS VIDE. 
The book is ideally suited to both the novice and experienced Artisan or Speciality Food Producer. 
Essential food safety controls are simply explained in a way that does not require too much prior food safety knowledge. 
Everybody knows that temperature controls both the growth and survival of unwanted bacteria in food. That is why we cook food and why we keep food in the refrigerator. But there are other methods of controlling the growth and survival of micro-organisms too. 
What gives jam its extended shelf life? What makes salami safe to eat when the meat is still raw? How much salt should you use when preparing smoked fish? 
The physical controls that are discussed are salt, sugar, acidity, pH, moisture content and water activity. 
If you are contemplating starting a food business then "Artisan & Speciality Food Production" is an essential read for getting started. It can be used to inform the content of a documented food safety management system. These systems are frequently known as a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems and are a legal requirement for all food producers in many countries.

Keeping Food Safe - Continued

The most common technique used to make and keep food safe is temperature control. We all know excessive heat will kill most bacteria and we all prolong the shelf life of perishable foods by storing them in the refrigerator / freezer.

However, temperature control is not the only technique employed by food manufacturers when ensuring safety and durability. They may use one or more of the following controls either in addition to temperature control or sometimes as an alternative.

1. Removing water from the food by drying it or by adding salt and / or sugar etc.
2. Reducing the pH of the food by adding an acid or using natural fermentation techniques.
3. Smoking the food.
4. Using curing salts such as Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite.
5. By using other chemical preservatives such as Sulphur Dioxide,Sorbates and Benzoates.
6. Packing the food to exclude air or by replacing the air with a mix of inert gases.

When they use a combination of any of these techniques this is known in the trade as using "Hurdle Technology."

You can find out more about Artisan Food Safety here 

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

And an easy to use catering HACCP plan can be sourced by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com

 

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
l?ViewItem&ite

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

FOOD SAFETY ESSENTIAL - CORE TEMPERATURE & TIME

When considering food safety, it is generally accepted throughout the UK, that there is a target temperature that the core of most raw, high risk food should reach to guarantee it is safe to eat and this is normally around the 75 to 80 degrees centigrade mark.

There are many micro-organisms present in food that can cause illness and they all behave slightly differently when heat is applied. Food safety is not only dependent on target core temperature but time too.

To ensure food safety across the board, food safety scientists set the target temperature at a level that they believed would guarantee food safety in the worst case scenario and the following temperature / time combinations are widely accepted as safe targets. 

80 C  for  6 seconds

75 C  for  30 seconds

70 C  for  2 minutes

65 C  for  10 minutes

60 C  for  45 minutes

These targets were set with conventional cooking in mind however, over recent years, there has been a rise in the popularity of low temperature / long time cooking techniques and consequently the scientists have revised these targets.

Of particular concern is E-coli. At temperatures above 70 degrees centigrade, 

E-coli dies at more or less the same rate as most other food poisoning bacteria so the above temperature / time combinations are considered satisfactory at 70 C or above, but at temperatures below 70 C their death rate is significantly slower.

The recommended temperature / time combination for food that is likely to be contaminated with E-coli are now set at 

65 C  for 14 minutes

60 C  for 93 minutes

See the FSA - Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food report here:-

http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/acmsfburgers0807.pdf

More information on food safety is available via this link:-

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

Our Kitchen Rules copies are available to purchase by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com

WARNING - BEWARE OF FREEZING FOOD WITH USE BY DATES

Everybody knows that when it comes to food wastage, one of the greatest food preservation techniques ever invented was the freezer.

When fresh, high risk, perishable food is frozen the deterioration stop watch grinds to a halt. The shelf life significantly increases as the act of freezing stops the growth of both spoilage and food poisoning organisms.

As a member of the public, you wouldn't think twice about popping a piece of fresh meat in the freezer, if you thought you weren't going to use it by the given use by date. It makes sense to freeze it rather than throw it away. But if you do freeze fresh food with a use by date and you are a food business owner and you intend to use the frozen food as part of your business and you keep the frozen food on your premises then BEWARE!!!!

In 2011 a meat processing company based in Wales was prosecuted by a local trading standards officer for having at his premises meat, with an expired use by date, that had been frozen. To cut a long story short, the case was heard and appealed at various courts and a final decision was made in 2013. The upshot of it being that the case on behalf of the prosecution was successful and the company was heavily fined.

Trading standards officers and court officials are trained in "fact" and there were two facts in this case:-

Fact 1. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 states at Article 14 (1) "Food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe"

Fact 2. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 states at Article 24 (1) "After the use by date a food shall be deemed to be unsafe"

Food safety officers are also trained in fact but they are also trained in risk and when they undertake a food hygiene inspection they assess the risk your business presents to your customers.

Although a food safety officer could initiate legal proceedings for the possession of "frozen" food beyond its use by date found on a premises it is probably unlikely that they would do so if you can prove when the food was frozen. Food safety officers recognise both the economic value and food safety benefits of the act of freezing food. Indeed, the most commonly used and nationally prepared generic catering HACCP plan, Safer Food Better Business states:-

"If you find that you have more food in stock than you need and you do not think you will use it all before the ‘use by’ date, you could freeze some of it to be used in the future. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on freezing and label the food as appropriate."

Alternatively in OUR KITCHEN RULES it states at rule 17 on Hazard 3

     "  When we freeze fresh food with a use by date we label it with a “frozen on date” without obscuring the original use by date. When taking out of the freezer we label it with a “defrosted on date” and ensure it is used well within the remaining shelf life."

If you use either of these approaches then hopefully a food safety officer won't be seeking to take you to court BUT REMEMBER although your HACCP plan might be robust and you can demonstrate through it's use, that the food you sell is safe, you could still end up landing yourself in litigation  if you freeze fresh food with a use by date.

OUR KITCHEN RULES can be purchased by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:031:0001:0024:en:PDF


Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011R1169&from=EN