The Importance of Food Safety – Continuous Development of Staff

Food Awareness In Catering Level 1

Preventing Foodborne Illness:

By following the basic rules below you will prevent foodborne illness protecting yourself and the wider public.

🧼 1. Clean: Wash Hands and Surfaces Often

Hands: Wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds before, during, and after preparing food, and before eating. Wash them especially after handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or flour.
Surfaces and Utensils: Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with hot, soapy water after preparing each food item, especially after they have come into contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs.
Produce: Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water.

🔪 2. Separate: Don’t Cross-Contaminate

Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria from one food to another.

Shopping: Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate from all other foods in your shopping trolley and grocery bags.
Storage: In the refrigerator, keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood in sealed containers or bags on the bottom shelf to prevent their juices from dripping onto ready-to-eat foods.
Preparation: Use separate cutting boards—one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood, and another for produce, bread, and other foods that won’t be cooked. Never place cooked food back on a plate that held raw food.

🔥 3. Cook: Cook to the Right Temperature

Use a food thermometer—it’s the only way to know if food has reached a temperature high enough to kill harmful germs.

Poultry (chicken, turkey): 165°F(74°C)
Ground Meat (beef, pork, lamb): $160^\circ\text{F}$ ( $71^\circ\text{C}$
Steaks, Roasts, Chops (beef, veal, lamb, pork): $145^\circ\text{F}$ ( $63^\circ\text{C}$ ) and allow to rest for 3 minutes.
Fish: $145^\circ\text{F}$ ( $63^\circ\text{C}$ ) or cook until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
Leftovers and Casseroles: $165^\circ\text{F}$ ( $74^\circ\text{C}$ )

🧊 4. Chill: Refrigerate Promptly

Bacteria multiply rapidly in the “Danger Zone” between $40^\circ\text{F}$ ( $4^\circ\text{C}$ ) and $140^\circ\text{F}$ ( $60^\circ\text{C}$ )

Refrigerator Temperature: Keep your refrigerator at or below $40^\circ\text{F}$ ( $4^\circ\text{C}$ ).
Prompt Refrigeration: Refrigerate perishable foods (like meat, dairy, cooked leftovers, and cut produce) within 2 hours. If the food is exposed to temperatures above $90^\circ\text{F}$ ( $32^\circ\text{C}$ ,such as outdoors in hot weather, refrigerate within 1 hour.
Safe Thawing: Thaw frozen food safely in the refrigerator, in cold water (changing the water every 30 minutes), or in the microwave.Never thaw food on the counter.
Leftovers: Use cooked leftovers within 3 to 4 days.

Protecting Public Health:

That’s a powerful and accurate summary of the consequences of widespread illness. The protection of public health is vital because illness creates a significant negative impact on two major areas:

🏥 Strain on Healthcare Systems

Widespread illness, especially severe or novel diseases, quickly overwhelms healthcare infrastructure:

Capacity Overload: Hospitals and clinics can become quickly saturated with patients, exceeding bed capacity, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs).
Resource Depletion: There are increased demands for critical supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, diagnostic tests, and pharmaceuticals.
Workforce Exhaustion: Healthcare workers face immense pressure, leading to burnout, illness, and absenteeism, further limiting the system’s capacity to care for the sick.
Disruption of Routine Care: Focusing resources on the acute illness forces the delay or cancellation of elective procedures, screenings, and routine care, which negatively impacts people with chronic conditions or other health needs.

📉 Impact on Productivity and the Economy

Sickness among the population directly translates to economic loss and reduced societal function:

Absenteeism: Workers, students, and essential service providers are forced to stay home due to their own illness or the need to care for family members. This halts or slows production and service delivery.
Presenteeism: Individuals who come to work while sick perform at a lower level, increasing the risk of errors and potentially spreading the illness further.
Long-Term Disability: Severe illnesses can lead to long-term health issues or disability, removing skilled workers from the labor force permanently.
Global Economic Shocks: Large-scale pandemics can disrupt supply chains, trade, and travel, resulting in massive economic losses globally.

🛡️ Key Public Health Strategies to Mitigate Strain

Effective strategies for protecting public health focus on prevention, preparedness, and response:

1. Disease Prevention and Control

Vaccination Programs: Implementing and encouraging high uptake of vaccines (for flu, COVID-19, measles, etc.) is the most effective way to prevent severe illness and community spread.
Promoting Hygiene: Reinforcing basic measures like hand washing and respiratory etiquette (covering coughs and sneezes) reduces transmission.
Infection Control: Implementing strict infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in all settings, especially healthcare and communal environments.