Food Hazards — Learn How to Avoid Them and the Foodborne Illnesses They Cause
The most practical way to avoid contracting a foodborne illness is prevention, and RDs can help clients by providing information on how to keep their food safe at all times. Moreover, RDs in foodservice can educate staff to ensure proper handling practices are followed in this environment.
This continuing education course examines the various hazards that affect our food supply, the ways in which they contaminate our food and contribute to morbidity and even mortality, and strategies for avoiding these hazards.
Categories of Food Safety Hazards
Food safety hazards are divided into three categories: biological, chemical, and physical. The food industry uses the system of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, which involves seven steps to reduce or eliminate such hazards. The first step is to identify potential food hazards, which is the focus of this course. Other steps determine critical control points, set critical limits, establish monitoring procedures, identify which corrective actions should be used if needed, create verification procedures, and develop procedures for keeping records and documentation as needed.5
Biological Hazards
Most people think of bacteria when they hear the term “biological hazards,” yet a virus is responsible for the greatest number of foodborne illnesses. The CDC says norovirus was responsible for 58% of the foodborne illness cases reported in 2011.3 Salmonella, a bacterium, was responsible for 11% of such cases and was the second most common cause of such illnesses; it also accounted for 35% of hospitalizations related to foodborne illnesses and was the most common cause of such hospitalizations.6 Salmonella also was the leading cause of death related to foodborne illness (28%), followed by Toxoplasma gondii (24%), Listeria monocytogenes (19%), and norovirus (11%).6 It’s estimated that each year in the United States, 31 major pathogens cause 9.4 million cases of foodborne illness, more than 55,000 hospitalizations, and close to 1,400 deaths.7
Though many bacteria are killed during the cooking process, foods still can contain a level high enough to render them unsafe if the following occurs: They don’t reach the required internal cooking temperature and stay at that temperature for the length of time needed to kill the bacteria (which depends on the type, cut, and size of the food); they contain toxins produced by bacteria during the cooking process; or they become contaminated from another source after the cooking process (cross-contamination).
Some bacteria can grow relatively well under refrigeration, such as Yersinia enterocolitica, which often are found in contaminated dairy products, water, tofu, and pork. Yersinia affect babies younger than the age of 1 at a rate 40 times greater than that of adults and can survive in a frozen environment for nearly 450 days. Pasteurization and properly cooking foods can minimize infection from this microorganism.10
Listeria also thrive under refrigeration and cause listeriosis, which produces flulike symptoms, often fooling people into thinking they have a simple cold or the flu rather than a serious bacterial infection. Listeriosis is particularly hazardous to pregnant women who, according to the CDC, are roughly 13 times more likely to develop it than are others.11 The disease can cause stillbirth, miscarriage, premature delivery, or infection in newborns.11,12 Listeria can grow in deli meat that’s left on the counter or in the refrigerator for too long and in unpasteurized milk, cheese made with unpasteurized milk, smoked seafood, pâté, hot dogs, and contaminated melons even when under refrigeration.
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Answer:
Food Hazards — Learn How to Avoid Them and the Foodborne Illnesses They Cause
The most practical way to avoid contracting a foodborne illness is prevention, and RDs can help clients by providing information on how to keep their food safe at all times. Moreover, RDs in foodservice can educate staff to ensure proper handling practices are followed in this environment.
This continuing education course examines the various hazards that affect our food supply, the ways in which they contaminate our food and contribute to morbidity and even mortality, and strategies for avoiding these hazards.
Categories of Food Safety Hazards
Food safety hazards are divided into three categories: biological, chemical, and physical. The food industry uses the system of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, which involves seven steps to reduce or eliminate such hazards. The first step is to identify potential food hazards, which is the focus of this course. Other steps determine critical control points, set critical limits, establish monitoring procedures, identify which corrective actions should be used if needed, create verification procedures, and develop procedures for keeping records and documentation as needed.5
Biological Hazards
Most people think of bacteria when they hear the term “biological hazards,” yet a virus is responsible for the greatest number of foodborne illnesses. The CDC says norovirus was responsible for 58% of the foodborne illness cases reported in 2011.3 Salmonella, a bacterium, was responsible for 11% of such cases and was the second most common cause of such illnesses; it also accounted for 35% of hospitalizations related to foodborne illnesses and was the most common cause of such hospitalizations.6 Salmonella also was the leading cause of death related to foodborne illness (28%), followed by Toxoplasma gondii (24%), Listeria monocytogenes (19%), and norovirus (11%).6 It’s estimated that each year in the United States, 31 major pathogens cause 9.4 million cases of foodborne illness, more than 55,000 hospitalizations, and close to 1,400 deaths.7
Though many bacteria are killed during the cooking process, foods still can contain a level high enough to render them unsafe if the following occurs: They don’t reach the required internal cooking temperature and stay at that temperature for the length of time needed to kill the bacteria (which depends on the type, cut, and size of the food); they contain toxins produced by bacteria during the cooking process; or they become contaminated from another source after the cooking process (cross-contamination).
Some bacteria can grow relatively well under refrigeration, such as Yersinia enterocolitica, which often are found in contaminated dairy products, water, tofu, and pork. Yersinia affect babies younger than the age of 1 at a rate 40 times greater than that of adults and can survive in a frozen environment for nearly 450 days. Pasteurization and properly cooking foods can minimize infection from this microorganism.10
Listeria also thrive under refrigeration and cause listeriosis, which produces flulike symptoms, often fooling people into thinking they have a simple cold or the flu rather than a serious bacterial infection. Listeriosis is particularly hazardous to pregnant women who, according to the CDC, are roughly 13 times more likely to develop it than are others.11 The disease can cause stillbirth, miscarriage, premature delivery, or infection in newborns.11,12 Listeria can grow in deli meat that’s left on the counter or in the refrigerator for too long and in unpasteurized milk, cheese made with unpasteurized milk, smoked seafood, pâté, hot dogs, and contaminated melons even when under refrigeration.