Food Spoilage
1. Causes of food spoilage and food poisoning.
What is Food Spoilage?
Food spoilage is caused by tiny invisible organisms called bacteria. Bacteria live everywhere we live, and most of them don't do us any harm.
Pathogens: Harmful Bacteria
The bacteria we're concerned with from a food safety standpoint are the so-called "pathogens" that cause food poisoning. And these pathogens, like salmonella or Escherichia coli, don't produce any smells, off-tastes or changes in the food's appearance — a slimy surface, for instance, or some sort of discoloration.
2. Safety and Hygiene procedure used to prevent food spoilage and food poisoning.
Microbe Management
So how do we control these nasties? One way would be to starve them out. Bacteria need food to survive. Get rid of the food, and your bacteria problem disappears. Unfortunately, though, without food, the field of culinary arts has very little to offer.
So we'll assume that food is part of the equation. Bacteria still have several other, quite specific, requirements, each of which can be controlled to some extent. Armed with this knowledge, we can effectively minimize the chances of food-borne illness. The factors we need to keep in mind include:
Temperature
Time
Moisture
pH Level (Acidity)
Temperature Management
Keeping cold foods cold
Keeping cold foods cold means storing them at temperatures between 4°C , which is the normal temperature of a fridge, down to -18°C, which is where you want your freezer to be. At freezing temperatures, bacterial growth slows to nearly nil. Freezing doesn't kill them, though, all it does is make them cold. Once you thaw that food, any bacteria that were there before freezing will just warm up and start multiplying again.
Keeping hot foods hot
Keeping hot foods hot presents other challenges. Bacterial growth slows down once again at temperatures hotter than 60°C so hot foods that are being served on a buffet, for example, must be kept hotter than that at
What is Food Spoilage?
Food spoilage is caused by tiny invisible organisms called bacteria. Bacteria live everywhere we live, and most of them don't do us any harm.
Pathogens: Harmful Bacteria
The bacteria we're concerned with from a food safety standpoint are the so-called "pathogens" that cause food poisoning. And these pathogens, like salmonella or Escherichia coli, don't produce any smells, off-tastes or changes in the food's appearance — a slimy surface, for instance, or some sort of discoloration.
2. Safety and Hygiene procedure used to prevent food spoilage and food poisoning.
Microbe Management
So how do we control these nasties? One way would be to starve them out. Bacteria need food to survive. Get rid of the food, and your bacteria problem disappears. Unfortunately, though, without food, the field of culinary arts has very little to offer.
So we'll assume that food is part of the equation. Bacteria still have several other, quite specific, requirements, each of which can be controlled to some extent. Armed with this knowledge, we can effectively minimize the chances of food-borne illness. The factors we need to keep in mind include:
Temperature
Time
Moisture
pH Level (Acidity)
Temperature Management
Keeping cold foods cold
Keeping cold foods cold means storing them at temperatures between 4°C , which is the normal temperature of a fridge, down to -18°C, which is where you want your freezer to be. At freezing temperatures, bacterial growth slows to nearly nil. Freezing doesn't kill them, though, all it does is make them cold. Once you thaw that food, any bacteria that were there before freezing will just warm up and start multiplying again.
Keeping hot foods hot
Keeping hot foods hot presents other challenges. Bacterial growth slows down once again at temperatures hotter than 60°C so hot foods that are being served on a buffet, for example, must be kept hotter than that at