Food Safety

Cross Contamination and Safe Food

Many factors are related to food security and safety, such as ensuring the food supply at an adequate level, producing safe foods, and sharing the produced food equally. Problems regarding food are increasing day by day. One of these problems is the inability to ensure food safety. As is known, microorganisms infect foods in different ways. These can be listed as contamination caused by production conditions (environment, human, etc.) during the production of food, storage and storage under improper conditions, and cross contamination occurring in home and restaurant conditions. Cross contamination; It can be defined as the accidental contamination of microorganisms directly to ready-to-eat foods during the preparation of food for consumption. In general terms, the contact of products with high microorganism content and uncooked consumption of which is unfavorable in terms of public health (for example, raw meat and / or raw meat juice, raw milk and eggs, etc.) with cooked or ready-to-eat food is called cross contamination. It is possible to minimize the risk of cross contamination in home conditions with simple precautions.

Safe food is called food that has not lost its nutritional value, physically, chemically and microbiologically clean. Foodborne illness, on the other hand, is a disease caused by the consumption of unsafe foods. Food pollution factors threaten food safety Therefore, it can cause foods to become unhealthy. In order to obtain safe food, contamination of food from various sources should be prevented in all processes from harvest to consumption.

Ways to Ensure Food Safety Food hygiene; It is defined as “all the necessary measurements and conditions to ensure the suitability and safety of food at all steps of the food chain”. In order to ensure food safety, the rules regarding personal hygiene, food hygiene and areas related to food and beverage and tool-equipment hygiene must be followed. In order to ensure food hygiene, it is necessary to comply with hygiene rules from the purchasing stage to the preparation and  cooking stage. 

What should be considered in terms of nutritional safety in the purchasing phase of food?

 • Buying foods from reliable places and in accordance with the principles of purchasing provides benefits both in terms of food safety and economical aspects from the very beginning.

• Instead of fresh cheese, choose cheeses made from pasteurized milk, ripe and pickled for an appropriate period of time.

• Don’t buy street milk.

• Make sure that potentially risky foods such as meat, chicken, milk, fish are stored at 4 – 4.5 ˚C.

• Make sure that the structure of the meat is elastic, its color, odor and appearance are normal and that it is stamped.

• Instead of ready-made minced meat, prefer to buy minced meat from pieces of meat and buy whole chicken instead of piece chicken.

• While buying fish; Make sure that it has its own scent, its scales are bright, eyes are clear and slightly puffy, and its gills are closed and dark red.

• Do not buy cracked, dirty, broken eggs

.• While buying frozen food, make sure it is stored at -18 ° C. Make sure that there are no ice crystals inside the package.

• Buy frozen foods at the end of your shopping just before you pay.

• While purchasing packaged foods, be sure to read the label information (production date, expiry date, production permit, etc.) carefully.• Take care that grains and legumes are not moldy, insect-free, and broken grains. 

What should be considered in terms of food safety during the storage phase of foods? 

 It is of great importance that foods are stored after purchase. Foods that are not stored under appropriate conditions cause cross contamination and endanger other foods. Store foods in suitable containers / packages at appropriate times and temperatures. Foods stored in this way and consumed on time preserve both their nutritional value and hygienic quality. If you are not going to use the food you buy immediately, store it at the appropriate temperature. 

• Check frequently that your refrigerator is at the proper temperature (0-4 ˚C). • Do not keep the refrigerator door open longer than necessary.

 • Store raw meat, chicken and fish in separate packages and in separate storage containers on the coldest shelf of the refrigerator. 

• Store raw foods and cooked foods on separate shelves and cooked foods on top shelves and covered to prevent cross contamination.

 • Never let water dripping from raw poultry, fish or other meats come into contact with other foods, and if possible store such food in the freezer part of the refrigerator. 

• If the cooked dishes will not be served immediately, refrigerate them within 2 hours at most under appropriate conditions. 

• Consume perishable and perishable foods as soon as possible after purchasing when their quality is at their highest level. 

• Store the frozen foods in their own packages.

 • Label the foods you will freeze at home by writing the type of food and the date of freezing. What should be considered in terms of food safety in the preparation phase of foods? 

• Wash all fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly in plenty of water.

• Prepare raw and cooked foods on separate preparation surfaces and with separate tools.

• Keep raw foods away from cooked or semi-prepared foods during preparation.

• Wash your hands properly after handling raw food.

• Wash and disinfect all surfaces and tools and equipment that come into contact with meat, fish, especially raw chicken, with plenty of hot detergent after each use.

• Potentially risky foods such as meat, milk and eggs can be kept out of the refrigerator for a maximum of 2 hours during preparation. Potentially risky foods that have been out of the refrigerator for more than two hours are not safe for consumption.

• Thaw frozen food at refrigerator temperature, under cold running water in its original packaging or in microwave ovens.

• Do not refreeze foods that have been thawed once.

• Store seasoned meat products sealed in the refrigerator. In addition to the basic measures listed above; Since foods can easily be contaminated by microorganisms, precaution should be taken to ensure that all surfaces that food contact is clean. Crevices and cracks on the surfaces create a suitable environment for the accumulation and development of microorganisms. Care should be taken to ensure that the surfaces are smooth and solid wastes are quickly removed from the environment. It is necessary for good personnel hygiene to wear appropriate protective clothing such as mask, cap, gloves and footwear while working. These clothes should be easy to clean and kept clean. Some improper habits of the staff can lead to unhealthy food production. These habits can cause contamination of food by microorganisms (eg Staphylococcus, Microccus, Lactobacillus, Morexella), particularly in the nasopharynx and oral cavity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Dietician Duygu Çetin