What the consequences of lack of food safety?

Each year, it is estimated that 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people – fall ill, 420,000 die after eating contaminated food and 30% of this figure corresponds to children under 5 years of age, according to facts presented by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This large burden of illnesses ends up highlighting the importance of food safety, a topic that will be discussed today, as we seek to understand its meaning, the side effects it brings not only to health, but also to the socioeconomic development of a country and, most importantly, how get around them!

First of all, what is Food Safety?

An expression coming from the English “food safety”, it is defined by the General Principles of Food Hygiene of a joint program of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the WHO, as being food that will not cause harm to health. Click here for level 3 food Safety Course manufacturing in UAE

All this is guaranteed by the supervision of the quality and safety of production from the handling stage in the field to the consumer’s table. However, it is necessary to first understand the dangers that could compromise this condition.

Dangers in food:

All foods are at risk of being contaminated, whether physically, chemically or biologically, causing an increase in the chances of  illnesses. Therefore, it is important to know how these 3 types of contamination occur so that you can protect yourself.

Biological Contamination:

Being the most common cause of poisoning, it occurs due to substances produced by living beings and pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, pests, fungi and protozoa.

Chemical Contamination:

As the name suggests, it occurs due to some type of chemical component, such as cleaning products, pesticides, heavy metals and toxin residues in the food itself.

Physical Contamination:

It occurs due to the presence of foreign objects that may have been detached at some stage of the production process, which may even carry harmful biological contaminants.

I imagine that beard hair, hair, fingernails or broken glass are the last things you would want to find in your meal, right?

Therefore, eating unsafe foods can cause nausea, fever, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, poisoning, debilitating infections or even miscarriage in pregnant women, liver, immunological, neurological and kidney diseases, cancer and death.

So how to achieve safe food?

Through quality control, which should not be optional or exclusive for large industries, since the responsibility for ensuring the safety of their food products and reducing the risks associated with consumer exposure to contaminated or unsafe food lies with everyone who passes through the production chain until consumption itself. Contact us for level 2 food safety Catering course in UAE

Therefore, below we will present some control and prevention methods that will help guarantee the safety and quality of your food:

The Five Keys to Safe Eating

This is the title of a manual published by the WHO Department of Food Safety  which presents basic food hygiene instructions summarised in the following central messages or “keys”:

• Maintain a personal and environmental cleaning routine;
• Separate raw foods from cooked foods;
• Cook your food for enough time and temperatures to kill any pathogens;
• Store food at appropriate temperatures;
• Use treated water and safe inputs.

In addition to this more extensive document, the international organisation provides this information briefly in an info graphic on food hygiene for your better visualisation.

Good Manufacturing Practices:

Also called GMP, they encompass a series of hygienic-sanitary requirements and practices raised by the National Health Surveillance Agency  for any companies that have a production line.

Furthermore, they work together with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), which are basically a detailed road map for carrying out tasks and investigating hazards harmful to consumers’ health, respectively.

They all cover the use and selection of quality raw materials; the storage of these inputs in places with adequate temperatures and humidity; the hygiene of facilities, equipment, utensils, furniture and handlers; pest monitoring and control; cleaning water tanks; between others. for more blogs https://wingsmypost.com/

As the main topic of this post does not talk exclusively about Good Manufacturing Practices, what do you think about accessing our free GMP eBook to learn more about the subject?