What is food safety??

Food safety is actually a way of to design to reduce the risk of any foodborne illness from preparation of food to serving of food. It helps to reduce the spread of any foodborne illness and to ensure there is safe supply of food throughout, from producers to consumers.

If the food is unsafe and it is consumed by others, it can cause foodborne illness. Foodborne illness can be caused by poor handling, contaminated equipments and also caused by germs and bacteria (Listeria, salmonella, colifoms) when consumers come in contact with contaminated food. In fact all the foods are able to cause illness if they are contaminated or when they are not processed properly. Several symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, and fever are caused by foodborne illness.

There are several ways to prevent foodborne illness like;
- cook the food thoroughly
- wash your hands before eating or preparation of food
- position the cooked food and raw food properly to prevent cross contamination
- do not use the same chopping board for cooked and raw food.
- practice good personal hygiene
- keep the workplace clean and tidy

Besides the above prevention, introduction of HACCP system can also help to reduce the hazards in food safety. With the help of the introduction of HACCP, it can help us in evaluating the effectiveness of the food safety management system implement by the food industry, allowing the employees to get a better control in preparing the product like controlling the temperature of the food well, high enough to kill away the pathogens. Together with the help of HACCP and also the safety practices and precautions carried out, food we consumed can be safe throughout, from producers to consumers.


Reference: http://www.dupagehealth.org/safefood/misc/fbi.asp
:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety