A+
contamination - ✔✔the presence of harmful substances in food that can cause injury or
illness to a person who eats or tastes it
✔✔food adulteration - ✔✔foods altered to intentionally debase or degrade the quality of
the food (additives and coloring); can be adultered if misbranded or if lack of informative
labeling -> *food does not have to be contaminated to be considered unsafe for human
consumption
✔✔intentional food contamination - ✔✔can be from unhappy staff, terrorists or
competitors (must have a process to protect from this)
✔✔FDA process for the foundation of a food defense program: A.L.E.R.T. - ✔✔A -
Assure: know that products are from safe, reliable vendors, products have been kept
sealed or locked up & inspect all deliveries
L - Look: is your establishment secure? are doors locked? train staff to look for places
food could be purposefully contaminated
E - Employees: limit staff acces, know your vendors, and verify visitors
R - Reports: establish and maintain logs and records, and continually inspect your food
defense program
T - Threat: notify law enforcement of any suspicious activity or attempts to purposefully
attack your establishment
✔✔foodborne illness outbreak - ✔✔defined as TWO OR MORE unrelated people
having SIMILAR SYMPTOMS after eating the SAME FOOD
health dep. job = to determine problems
manager & food workers job = correct problems that have been identified
initial steps:
stopping the sale of food, isolating the suspected food, taking samples for testing,
preventing suspected employees from handling the food
**botulism OR chemical-caused foodborne illness must be reported when it occurs even
a SINGLE instance to the health dep.
✔✔bacteria multiplication - ✔✔simple cell division
*splits into two every 20 minutes
10 hours of multiplying every 20 minutes a single bacterium will have multiplied into 1
billion bacteria
✔✔Six Primary Factors that Enable Bacteria to Live & Multiply - ✔✔environmental
factors:
amount of available oxygen, and amount of available water or moisture
1) bacterial growth rate and oxygen
-some bacteria must have oxygen; others can live w/o
-bacteria that MUST have oxygen to grow causes most food spoilage
, 2) bacterial growth rate and moisture
-bacteria must have water or moisture to grow and multiply
-water activity (Aw) is a measurement of the amount of moisture needed for bacterial
growth; scale is from 0.0 to 1.0
*foods with Aw of .85 or higher cause harmful bacterial growth
3) bacterial growth rate and acidity
*most harmful bacteria thrive in foods such as milk, meat, & eggs that are slightly acidic
to neutral
->4.6 on the acidic side to 7.0 in the neutral range
4) bacterial growth and high-protein food
-bacteria need nutrients, such as proteins to reproduce: most bacteria thrive in high
protein food
5) bacterial growth rate and temperature
-b/t 41 and 135 degrees F bacteria grow rapidly, called the "Temperature Danger Zone"
-b/t 70 and 125 bacteria grow MOST rapidly
-temps over 135 or under 41: bacteria begin to die or grow slowly
***controlling time food is in the Danger Zone is one of the MOST important factors in
preventing foodborne illness
6) bacterial growth rate and time
-bacteria need time in the danger zone to multiply; the longer in the danger zone, the
faster they can multiply & become dangerous; foods most susceptible to six factors
require time and temp controls to keep them safe to eat
✔✔Factors of Bacterial Growth - ✔✔-acidity (pH value)
-protein
-temp
-time
✔✔TCS - ✔✔Time/Temperature Control for Safety
->foods that provide optimum conditions for bacterial growth that require time & temp
controls to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation
examples: animal foods such as:
milk, milk products, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, or crustacea
plant foods:
heat treated, consist of raw seed sprouts, cut melons or untreated garlic-in-oil mixtures
ex: sliced cantaloupe, cut watermelon, baked or boiled potatoes, tofu and soy protein
foods, cooked rice or beans, cooked or warmed fruits and vegetables
**prepared or Ready to Eat foods should be considered TCS
->include cut leafy greens and other vegetables, fruits, bakery items, deli meats
✔✔FATTOM - ✔✔Food
Acidity - TCS are neutral to slightly acidic
Time - bacteria take time to grow; limit foods time in Danger Zone
Temperature - bacteria multiply fastest in Temp. D. Zone
Oxygen - most bacteria in foods need oxygen to grow