A Quick Guide on Food Safety Standards

Today I bring you a very informative article regarding food safety. This is not my usual piece but I found out many here on RC are into FOOD.  I would like to share my knowledge also as a Professional Chef and as a Quality Assurance Analyst.

Food safety, the first thing that comes on our mind surely would be the safeness of anything we intake in our body as the by the word itself says "FOOD SAFETY".

Experience all through out the years taught me well on this aspects. To be honest I learned more when I was on the actual field than by just listening to my instructors at school before. The technicalities we have to ensure for consumers safety. Well just for your information I am still 24 years old a Foodtechnology graduate, been on 6 different companies of food production, restaurant and hotels,

Currently working as a Chef and as a Quality Assurance Analyst of the same Company. We basically sell food products and with that being said I have quite knowledge about FOOD SAFETY.

What is FOOD SAFETY, according to Australian Institute of food safety

"Food Safety refers to handling, preparing and storing food in a way to best reduce the risk of individuals becoming sick from foodborne illnesses. ... The principles of food safety aim to prevent food from becoming contaminated and causing food poisoning" .

It simply means ensuring the food's end product to be safe for consuming. Companies have been following set standards for food safety which is also known as the ISO 22000. It is a set of standards that all participating countries should follow. Basically ISO 22000 requires that all hazards that may be reasonably expected to occur in the food chain, including hazards that may be associated with the type of process and facilities used, are identified and assessed.

Now as per my attended seminars and trainings there is this so called Five Keys to Foodsafety these are as follows.

(1) keep clean
-Keep your surroundings clean

-wash all raw materials

-maintain good personal hygiene

(2) separate raw and cooked

- determine raw materials from cooked  materials.

- ensure separate containers for both to avoid cross contamination

(3) cook thoroughly
- Most raw materials require to be cooked thoroughly to kill bacterias.

- usually 60° celcius and above is the safest temperature.

(4) keep food at safe temperatures
- we do have this so called shelf life, it means the period of time a certain food will last edible. And to have longer shelf life we follow certain safe temperatures for each product.

(5) use safe water and raw materials.
- usually we follow certain water ph level.
- also we acquire raw materials from well establish and FDA approved suppliers.

Following these five keys ensures quality on food products.

Now what do we gain after following such standards. Well fruits of labor come afterwards.

It will prove your integrity to the market, it will come to the consumers senses that your products are way more better than the other and also giving consumers the confidence on your brand.

Food safety standard is not limited to big companies or manufacturers. We all can apply this every time we handle food even in our very own home. Not just for our safety but for the safety of our loved ones. So practice food safety wherever you may go.

_____________________

Thank you for reading 💝 I hope you learned something from it. Please comment down below if you have something to share too.

Please don't forget to like , share, comment and subscribe to see more updates from me in the future.

This has been CrazyInsane chow ✋