introduction

What comes to your mind when you hear the term food safety? Food safety is a major concern for both processor and consumer It is a fundamental and continuing issue [ discuss why?

Defining food safety

According to Codex stds: Assurance that food will not cause harm when prepared and/ or eaten according to its intended use It refers to those attributes that cannot be directly observed bt instead require laboratory procedure for their measurement , the procedure include microbiological and chemical analysis Food satey is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation and storage of foods in ways that prevent food borne illness. This include a no of routines that needs to be followed to avoid potential severe health hazards.

Food safety hazards

Def: A biological , chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, food with potential to cause an adverse health effect Four groups of hazards a. Biological b. Chemical c. Physical d. Allergens These hazards can be introduced into the food supply chain any time during harvesting , processing , transporting, preparation, storage and serving food

Biological hazards
Divided into three types  microbial Viral Parasitic( protozoa and worms)

a.Bacterial hazards
Can result in either food borne infections or intoxications Infection caused by ingesting a number of pathogenic microorganisms sufficient to cause infection Examples include:  Salmonella  Listeria monocytogenes  Campylobacter jejuni  Shigella  Vibrio cholerae  E. coli O157:H7

 Intoxication is caused by ingestion of preformed toxins produced and excreted by certain bacteria when they multiply on foods Examples include: Clostridium botulinum Staphylococcus aureus Bacillus cereus Clostridium perfringens

 Preventive measures are taken to meet the following objectives when it comes to biological hazards: Destruction, elimination or reduction of the hazard Prevention of post contamination Prevention of growth and toxin production

b. Viral hazards
Viruses are very small particles that cannot be seen with light microscope Obligate intercellular parasites that are unable to reproduce outside the host cell Thus inert in food and do not multiply in them Viruses maybe transmitted to foods via the faecal oral route ether directly or indirectly Direct contamination when an infected fd handler contaminates food

 Indirect contamination can occur when foods such as bivalve molluscs become contaminated in water infected by untreated sewage Commonly recognised as food borne disesae agents are:  Hepatitis A virus  Norwalk virus  Rotavirus  Other viruses associated with gastroenteritis

c. Parasitic hazards
Parasites of concern belong to protozoa, nematodes, cestodes and trematodes Some fdborne parasites can be tranmitted through food and water contaminated by faecal material that contains parasites shed by infected hosts Other parasites spends a portion of their life in food animals and are thus ingested along with food Methods of preventing transmission include gd personal hygiene practises by fd handlers, proper disposal of human faeces, elinination of insuficiently treated sewage, proper sewage treament, Thorough cooking of foods eliminates all food borne parasites