India must transform to hygiene excellence in the Hospitality sector:

 

India must transform to hygiene excellence in the Hospitality sector:

Needs a push from the Central and State Governments, UTs, local authorities like municipal corporations and up-to-town panchayath levels. Massive campaigns should be conducted in association with private and NGO partnerships. Regular food safety inspections should be conducted in restaurants, kitchens, eateries, motels, food outlets, canteens etc., in association with the private sector and hygiene awareness created among the general public.

Food Safety & Hygiene in HoReCa Industry:

Restaurant Hygiene star rating system should be effectively implemented. Food safety and Hygiene should not be optional, it must be a mandatory requirement and right of every customer.

Hotels, restaurants and catering sectors, from street food vendors to star hotels hygiene and food safety should be implemented according to the budget and operational conveniences.

Much more effective hygiene equipment and solutions must be innovated and suitably implemented in this area.So that we may avoid any food poisoning cases and kill the hazards at the basic level.

Food safety and hygiene are essential, but not optional:

In India Food Safety and Hygiene must be essential and should not be optional. Much more regularization and academic shift must be needed by mindset level.

Hygiene education:

Food safety & and hygiene education must be started from the elementary school level. All the schools in India practical sessions should be conducted for the following in association with government and private partnerships.

1. Hand washing procedures

2. Food temperatures for cooking

3. Food storage practices

4. Seriousness of food poisoning - symptoms and mechanism

Above basic hygiene, education must be in the syllabus of every school in India.

Hygiene and Food Safety Index:

There should be a massive improvement required in the hygiene index in India. Food safety should be taken utmost care somehow by regulatory action, voluntary service and many other innovative ways to boost hygiene standards.

Food Safety Culture:

Best hygiene practices become culture. By imposing initially and voluntarily getting involved the food vendors to the general public, the journey must be started without any further delay.

Health & Safety:

General public health and safety are being affected by poor food safety and hygiene standards. Due to food poisoning and spoiled food health will be affected. Stringent action should be taken at the initial level to avoid economic loss through medical expenditure and human resources loss.

Conclusion:

India must have a push mechanism to achieve a better hygiene index. Gaps should be identified whether may be manpower, machine, material, education or any other innovative solutions to achieve a high food safety and hygiene index. Food safety and hygiene industry growth must be required. Hopefully, socio-economical problems may be sorted out during the effective implementation

World Food Safety Day- 7th June 2019

World Food Safety Day- 7th June 2019.

United Nation is creating the Food safety awareness to the public by celebrating World Food Safety Day.

The first ever World Food Safety Day (WFSD) will be celebrated on 7 June 2019 to draw attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks, contributing to food security, human health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.

The UN recognizes food safety On 20 December 2018 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 73/250 proclaiming a World Food Safety Day. Starting in 2019, every 7 June will be a time to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.

Facts and figures:

• An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year.
• Children under 5 years of age carry 40 percent of the foodborne disease burden, with 125 000 deaths every year
• Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.
• Foodborne diseases impede socioeconomic development by straining health care systems, and harming national economies, tourism and trade.
• The value of trade in food is US$ 1.6 trillion, which is approximately 10 percent of total annual trade globally.

References:

1. http://www.fao.org/3/ca4449en/ca4449en.pdf
2. https://prashantchaturvedi.com/world-food-safety-day/

Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for Food Production Industry

Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) for Food Production Industry

Environmental monitoring is an essential program for facilities, especially in food manufacturing sites that handle microbiologically sensitive foods. EMP reduces the risks of cross-contamination and product recalls. EMP is required to mitigate inherent food safety risks and ensure regulatory compliance.

Sanitation:

In the food production facilities are doing sanitation like "cleaning In the Place- CIP" and "cleaning Out of Place-COP".Effectiveness of the microbial sanitation is determined by ATP and Microbial testing.As per the requirement of advanced food safety certification systems like BRC, SQF; Environmental Monitoring Program is very much required. You are required to perform environmental sampling and identify the potential biological hazard of pathogen contamination at post lethality exposed steps.

Environmental Monitoring:

Microbes are vary from the one to another food facility, any have, Listeria Monocytogenes and Salmonella are the first to consider but there could be more such as Staphylococcus Aureus, E. coli, coliforms, and more. 

The environmental sampling program should identify four zones for potential sampling in high risk areas. Zone 1 includes food contact surfaces. Zone 2 includes indirect food contact surfaces such as equipment framework and indirect employee protective clothing. Zone 3 includes environmental areas inside high-risk processing areas such as floors, walls, drains, ceilings and refrigeration units. Zone 4 includes environmental areas in non-production areas such as break areas and hallways.

Zone 1 and 2 are highly important then the zones 3 and 4. Zone 1 and 2 is highly related to the food recall.

The sampling point,no of samples and frequency of sampling should be determined based on the regulatory agencies requirements.

Positive results and Corrective actions:

If the positive results are occurs, thrice sampling should be done for the analysis to ensure the results.Root cause analysis to be made to find out the reason of microbial contamination and intensified sanitation to be made.Data must be generated and reviewed for the prevention of any cross contamination in feature.

Recommendations:

1. Microbial monitoring plan to be developed based on the riskiness of the food production/processing, in particularly ready-to-eat (RTE) foods category.
2. Senior management's involvement, co-operation and budget allocation to be much required. 

References:

1. https://www.sqfi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Module-2-Manufacturing-Guidance-with-cover.pdf
2. https://www.fda.gov/media/102633/download

SIGNATURE SERIES | December 21, 2018 Not All Restaurant Checklists are Created Equal By ComplianceMate

https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/signature-series/not-all-restaurant-checklists-are-created-equal/

SIGNATURE SERIES | December 21, 2018

Not All Restaurant Checklists are Created Equal

By ComplianceMate

Digital food safety and operational checklists are a recipe for success in the modern restaurant. They make kitchens simultaneously safer and more efficient, enough that digitization efforts often pay for themselves. Over half (59 percent) of paper-reduction projects achieve payback in less than a year, according to the Association for Information and Image Management.

However, not all digital checklist solutions are created equal.

A lack of features and poor design can yield an app that actually interferes with your restaurant’s operations and takes more time than an old-fashioned pen-and-paper approach. Worse, if the system isn’t set up to deal correctly with the digital records it creates, it could potentially lead to even greater legal liability down the road. “A digital checklist could end up costing you more money if you don't do it the right way,” says Tom Woodbury, vice president of National Accounts at ComplianceMate.

Yet, if digital checklists are well worth the investment generally, how can you ensure you get a good solution that will provide a solid return-on-investment?

When evaluating a digital checklist solution, ask the following questions.

1. Is it genuinely more efficient to use the digital checklist than to use pen-and-paper?

Efficiency depends on a well-designed app. For example, does the app auto-advance between sections, or does it force users to navigate between multiple screens to complete a single line item? Does the app interface with a wireless, handheld temperature probe, or must all information be input by hand? Issues like these can frustrate users and cause unnecessary delays. “Users spend so much time managing the app that they’re not managing the checklist,” says Tom.

Kitchen staff should be able to complete an average digital checklist via tablet in just a few minutes. In fact, a good digital checklist will enable restaurants to increase the number of checklist items and still require less time to complete them. For a location with six or so line checks throughout the day, that alone will put over an hour back into the store or kitchen manager’s day yet cover safety, quality, and branding issues more effectively.

2. Can users get started with the system immediately?

This question also centers around good design. The checklist systems should be intuitive; if you can't hand a tablet to the average kitchen worker, give them 90 seconds of training, and then have them be able to use it in full, the system is too complicated. A digital solution shouldn’t add functionality only to sacrifice simplicity, clarity, and usability.

Nevertheless, the system should still offer genuinely helpful functions, but that functionality should be simple to navigate for users—or entirely automated. For example, beyond yes/no and numeric/temperature entries, make sure entries and list items will be time- and date-stamped. That added calendar information is invaluable when auditing and analyzing data to spot trends or systemic issues. A modern checklist system should also make good use of today’s digital devices, like using built-in cameras to generate photo entries that can substantiate other claims (e.g., were the dishes cleaned in a timely way? Here’s a time- and date-stamped photo proving they were.)

3. Will the system help you to identify trends/problems across multiple units?

It’s surprisingly rare for digital checklists to a.) provide information above a single unit or b.) to make the information meaningful enough to translate raw data into actionable insight. If you have more than one store and the system fails to effectively report data organization-wide, you lose most of the benefits of a digital solution. The system should also be able to flag anomalies and exceptions, generate alerts whenever entries exceed a custom-set threshold, and allow you to identify trends across your entire organization.

4. Will the system prompt and facilitate corrective actions?

What happens if a checklist item fails to meet the threshold or specification allowed by the restaurant? The system itself will ideally prompt corrective actions automatically. For example, if the temperature of a dish is too low, the system might offer the option of one or more retries, suggesting that the user stir the pot to better balance the heat, and then temperature check again.

In other words, it’s not enough just to identify aberrations that can affect food safety. Action must be taken to bring the situation back into specification. The digital checklist can play an active role here.

5. Will my digital system help identify and prevent fraud?

A digital solution can protect against falsifying entries (pencil whipping)—if it’s designed to do so. Paper provides no controls to verify the time the checklist was really completed or the accuracy of the recorded information. One ComplianceMate customer once made a surprise visit to one of his stores on Friday afternoon and discovered the store's paper checklists had already been filled out—for the entire weekend.

Look for a digital solution that implements controls against this kind of fraudulent behavior. For example, it might limit access to the checklist to certain time ranges. Ideally, it will also analyze entries for anomalies. Was this checklist completed unusually quickly? Does that checklist contain identical values in all fields? The system itself should be able to spot questionable behavior and prompt managers or executives to inquire further.

With the right checklist, restaurants can streamline their kitchen operations, improve their food safety profile, and save time and money. But before you dive into digitization, make sure you’re asking the right questions to identify a product that can achieve those outcomes.

The ComplianceMate system addresses a critical need for proactive food safety initiatives at growing restaurant chains. Through a combination of wireless temperature sensors, mobile technologies, and easy-to-use tools built for the modern kitchen, ComplianceMate gives you total control over food safety and compliance at your stores. For more information, contact ComplianceMate.

India food safety initiative to boost meat cleanliness

India food safety initiative to boost meat cleanliness

20-Sep-2018 By Raghavendra Verma, in New Delhi

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is launching a hygiene and cleanliness drive in the Indian meat industry though training, food safety audits, certification of animal feed and pushing retailers to make health and safety improvements.

HTTPS://WWW.GLOBALMEATNEWS.COM/ARTICLE/2018/09/20/INDIA-LAUNCHES-MEAT-CLEANLINESS-INITIATIVE 

WHO recommended 5 Keys for the safer food.

kuralvasan@gmail.com
WHO recommended the fallowing food safety points to be fallowed in the kitchen to ensure the safe food.

WHO 5 KEYS  for the safer Food :

1.Keep Clean:

2.Separate raw and cooked foods

3.Cook Thoroughly 

4.Keep good at safe temperature 

5.Use safe  water and raw materials 


  

FIVE KEYS TO SAFER FOOD MANUAL: 

Its a recommended resource for the food safety trainers.

Link :  http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43546/9789241594639_eng.pdf;jsessionid=374D93279C7D3AD657D5FA15E445C3F9?sequence=1

Microplastic Contamination Is Found in Most Bottled Water, a New Study Says, By LAIGNEE BARRON March 15, 2018

Microplastic Contamination Is Found in Most Bottled Water, a New Study Says

By LAIGNEE BARRON 

March 15, 2018

Drinking from a plastic water bottle likely means ingesting microplastic particles, a new study claims, prompting fresh concerns — and calls for scientific research — on the possible health implications of widespread plastics pollution.

A study carried out on more than 250 water bottles sourced from 11 brands in nine different countries revealed that Microplastic contamination was nearly universal, found in more than 90% of the samples.

The study, by journalism organization Orb Media and researchers at the State University of New York at Fredonia, found an average of 10.4 microplastic particles about the width of a human hair per liter. That’s about twice the level of contamination discovered in the group’s earlier study on the ubiquitous plastic contamination in tap water across the globe, with the highest rate found in the U.S.

In the case of bottled water, Orb’s new study indicated contamination was partly the result of plastic packaging, and partly the fault of the bottling process. The survey included brands like Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestlé and San Pellegrino.

It’s unclear what effect, if any, this consumption of tiny bits of plastics has on human health. As much as 90% of ingested plastic could pass through a human body, but some of it may end up lodged in the gut, or traveling through the lymphatic system, according to research by the European Food Safety Authority.

“We don’t know all the chemicals in plastics, even… There’s so many unknowns here,” Jane Muncke, chief scientist at the Zurich-based Food Packaging Forum, told Orb.

http://time.com/5200680/microplastic-water-bottle-orb-study/?iid=sr-link1

My Opinion :

This article was published in Time magazine by LAIGNEE BARRON on  15th March 2018 which speaks  about the Micro plastic contamination.

We all are think that bottled drinking water is safe. The general public population have Less or no awareness about the safety of bottled drinking water. Micro plastic contamination in "bottled drinking water"  is an inattention area and new to us.

If micro/nano size plastic particle suppose, reached the blood stream/ lymphatic system what kind of ill effects it will give? whether it will be excreted or accumulated in our body? what will be effects on animals and other living organisms?  in particularly water habitats?  Lot of research are going on in past few decades and Its under exploration.

Today plastic is ruling the world, we cant imagine the world without plastic. Plastic recycling how far working good? What is the end story of the recycled plastic? What is the successful rate of plastic bio-degradation? Their are many questions arising in our mind.

Why cant control the plastic usage?  is their any alternative? Now plastic entered in to the food /water  and what will be in feature. How regulatory organizations are going to control the issue to ensure the food safety and environmental impact? Time have to answer for all this questions.

-on 9th April 2018

How does temperature affect thefood spoilage?

Blogger: Kural's Food Safety and Quality
Link: http://kuralvasan.blogspot.ae/
Temperature and food spoilage: 
How does temperature affect food spoilage?

______________________________________________________

Kural Vasan Ramakrishnan, Food Safety Officer, GHP Quality Consultants, Dubai, UAE.
email: kuralvasan@gmail.com  mobile:+971 50 6555683

______________________________________________________

Food production chain:

Temperature is an important factor which can influence the food spoilage. The food production and supply chain is too length and its starts from the farms and end-up with plate. In every step of the process appropriate temperature should be maintained to avoid the food spoilage. Temperature violations will affect the quality of the food supply chain; like food production, transportation, storage, processing, cooking and serving. For example the agriculture food items are produced by farming and its travels many transportation channels to reached the market by land, air and water ways. The food transportation includes local supplies, national supplies, export to other nations and imports are takes a day to few weeks of time to reach the market. 

Food are derived from agriculture, sea sources, forest/ nature and from some other sources.For example agricultural products to be stored in suitable condition and temperature to avoid the spoilage of the product. Why food spoilage mostly running around the temperature? Violation of temperature makes favorable condition for many microorganisms like bacteria and molds to grow in the food.

Food Spoilage microorganisms can be classified based on the food spoilage. 1.Pathogenic/Disease causing microbes example Salmonella sp causing typhoid fever. 2. Non-Pathogenic microbes 

(Not causing disease/ some favorable microbes) example Lactobacillus sp for the milk fermentation and yeast for producing spongy texture in bread baking.

Figure 1: Food production and supply chain

Food Market:

Food supply chain has being controlled and screened by government authorities like food departments, municipalities etc., Food items which is available in the market are concerned to met the local body regulations, government food code or international standards. In  the super markets/hypermarkets we can see the properly identified, food labelled, temperature maintained and arranged food items in display. Consumer should buy only the required food items, excessive buying some times may leads to food wastage. Landfill food waste are a  cause for the environment impact as well as it may hurt the economy of the buyers.

Food production and distribution are regulated and monitored by various quality bodies and regulatory agencies etc. In the food supply chain they are the one; responsible to ensure the food safety and quality until to reach the market. But when a consumers pick the food item in to their home, consumer also responsible to ensure the food safety.

Figure 2: Food Market.

Food safety is consumer responsibility too:

If a quality food in not stored in proper temperature; it will be spoil easily and may leads to health risks.

At home consumer is responsible to store, cook and hold the food in correct temperature and hygienic manner. Every food consumer is responsible ensure safety of their food. Consumer should aware of the food safety and buy the good quality products as per the basic evaluations like labeling instructions, storage condition, package condition and physical appearances etc., Food safety the choice of consumers at home.

How does temperature affect food spoilage?

For example, if a tomato is intact with the plant; it would be protected by the plant and nature. Once we cut the tomato and put in to the collection basket then our responsibility is started to save the tomato from the spoilage, in particularly from temperature misuse. 

How to protect the tomato from the spoilage until getting used?

A harvested tomato may reach the consumer's hand within a or few weeks of time. It’s a challenge for the traders to protect the food from spoilage. Tomato should be stored in chilled condition to maintain the temperature.So that it can be little postponed fruit repining and bacterial contamination as well.

  Figure 3: Tomato 

At room temperature food can be spoiled easily; because it’s a favorable condition for  many microorganisms like bacteria and molds. In the ambient temperature water molecules of the tomato will be in free state. High water content (aW=Available water ) foods will be easily spoiled by bacteria at room temperature. But in case of chilled or frozen condition water molecules are inactive/freezes.

Many disease causing bacteria can not be multiply at extreme cold and will die at very high temperatures. In general most of the food spoilage bacterial pathogens grows at +37°C optimally. Bacteria survives at refrigerator temperature and minimal bacterial growth occurs in stored food items. In the freezing condition bacteria survives but multiplication will be stopped. It would be extend the food spoilage.

Food storage temperature:

Once the food item purchased from the market it should be stored  generally in three different temperature range.

1.Ambient/Dry storage  at 20-25°C and RH-45-60%. (Some times product temperature will be determined based on the quality issues. Chocolates are stored at +12 to 20°C.)

2.Chilled storage at 1 to 5°C (in refrigerator)

3.Frozen storage at -18°C (in freezer)

Figure 4: Food preparation cycle at home.


The above cycle is mentioning about the general food preparation

cycle at home with required temperatures.

Ready to Eat foods:

Some of the food items are ready to eat like fruits and vegetable. But it should be washed, cleaned and preferably sanitized with chlorinated water (25-50ppm) before use. 

Cooking:

All the food items should be cooked at 75°C and above. Particularly raw meat,beef and poultry items should be always checked for the internal temperature using a thermometer or by any other slandered experienced ways. But mostly at home thermometer check is not followed. Cooked chicken/meat are confirmed by its tenderness, cooked at high flame for at least more than 30 min. In case of any suspect about the cooked temperature  thermometer is recommended to use to check the temperature. 

Figure 5: Cooking

Danger zone (6-60°C):

Bacteria can multiply rapidly at 6-60°C, hence its called as danger zone for the food items.

Above 60°C bacteria can start to die; so its a suitable temperature for hot food holding. At 75°C and above bacterial cells get ruptured leads to die, hence the foods are recommended to cook at 75°C and above. 

Figure 6: Germometer 

Temperature between 1-4°C bacterial multiplication will be very slow and bacteria are alive. This stage bacteria awaiting for the favorable ambient  temperature to grow-up. Its recommended to monitor the refrigerator/chiller temperature should not exceed more then +5°C. Some of the bacteria are called psychrophiles which can grow at lower temperature.

Figure 7: Microbial growth at various temperature.

Cooling :

Some times cooked foods are left at room temperature for long time due to cooling purpose. Long time storage (more then 4h) may lead to bacterial multiplication. Cooked foods can be stored up to 4h or less based on the nature of the food. For example rice and chicken curry. Its not good idea to store for long time in room temperature it may lead to bacterial contamination and multiplication.

Storage of leftover foods:

Left over cooked foods should be stored in refrigerators (1-5°C) at least one or two days depend on the shelf life of the food. During  storage bacterial growth will be minimal and bacteria are alive. Recommended to store foods are reheated before use.  

Reheating:

Chilled storage food can be reheated at 75°C and more to avoid the bacterial survival. Chilled storage will be minimally allow the bacterial grown. Bacteria will be killed by reheating at high temperature. Reheated food is not allowed store again in the refrigerator. Cooking -Cooling- Storing-Reheating order should be followed always.Reheating can be done using microwave oven, electric hot plates  or by flame, but the  internal food temperature must be reached above 75°C to avoid the bacterial survival.

Serving:

All the hot served foods should be maintained at 60°C and above  before serve. Reheated food items should be served immediately or should be maintained at hot holding temperature. Storage of food items for more that 4h at room temperature may allow the  bacterial multiplication. If any  delay serving then food can be hot holds at  60°C.

 Figure 8: Serving

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Blogger: Kural's Food Safety and Quality

Link: http://kuralvasan.blogspot.ae/