Talk:Food safety

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 August 2018 and 4 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ahobbs4.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:37, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Redirect

Why does this page redirect to Food Safety Network? This article should contain information on the concepts behind food safety, how it is accomplished, and so on. The redirect target does not even remotely address the subjects covered by a proper Food safety article. Although I do not have the expertise to create a proper Food safety page, someone with more knowledge in the area should remove this redirect and create a proper Food safety page. -Bodybasket210 08:55, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Moved sections from Sterilization and from Foodborne illness and removed redirect. --Microbiojen 18:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Why do several articles referenceFood and cooking hygiene but come back here. They Hygiene page references both articles and they both come here. Lost Link?

Headings

This article needs headings. It is a tad difficult to follow as is right now. Kukini 20:08, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Looks like West London Dweller granted your wish. --Microbiojen 22:51, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Lack of citations/references

The only section in this article supported by adequate citations is the first part of the "UK HACCP guidelines and other official information" section - all the others have been unreferenced since November 2006. I propose that the unreferenced sections are deleted once we hit November 2007. I don't have the time, or more importantly, the professional knowledge to update the article (giving wrong information here could kill people), so the safest form of action would seem to be to delete the unreferenced information. WLD^talk|edits 20:55, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

O.K - it's November now, so I have removed the unreferenced sections to this talk page. Please do not replace them without providing references - thank-you. WLD^talk|edits 13:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Domestic foodborne illness prevention

At home, prevention of Foodborne illness mainly consists of:

• separating foods while preparing and storing to prevent cross contamination. (i.e. clean cutting boards, utensils, and hands after handling meat and before handling ready-to-eat foods, etc.)
• washing and drying hands before handling ready-to-eat foods.
• not preparing food when sick or recovering from recent illness
• respecting food storage methods (hot foods hot and cold foods cold) and food preservation methods (especially refrigeration), and checking the expiration date;
• avoiding over-long storage of left-overs;
• washing the hands before preparing a meal, and before eating;
• washing fresh fruits and vegetables with clean water, especially when not cooked (e.g. fruits, salads), scrubbing firm fruits and vegetables with a brush to clean;
• washing dishes after use, rinsing them well in hot water and storing them clean and dry;
• keeping work surfaces and chopping boards clean and dry;
• keeping the kitchen and cooking utensils clean and dry;
• not relying on disinfectants or disinfectant-impregnated cloths and surfaces as a substitute for good hygiene methodology (as above);
• preventing pets walking on food-preparation surfaces.

Emma

SHE WONT COPY AND PASTE!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elinbrodrick (talk • contribs) 12:29, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Bacterial growth

Bacteria need warmth, moisture, food and time to grow. The presence, or absence, of oxygen, salt, sugar and acidity are also important factors for growth. In the right conditions, one bacterium can multiply using binary fission to become four million in eight hours. Since bacteria can be neither smelled nor seen, the best way to ensure that food is safe is to follow principles of good food hygiene. This includes not allowing raw or partially cooked food to touch dishes, utensils, hands or work surfaces previously used to handle even properly cooked or ready to eat food.

High salt, high sugar or high acid levels keep most bacteria from growing, which is why salted meats, jam, and pickled vegetables are traditional preserved foods.

Botulism may come from smoked or salted meat according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse webpage.

The most frequent causes of bacterial foodborne illnesses are cross-contamination and inadequate temperature control. Therefore control of these two matters is especially important.

Food temperature

Thoroughly cooking food until it is piping hot, i.e. above 70 °C (158 °F) will quickly kill most bacteria, parasites and viruses. Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens and Bacillus cereus, produce heat-resistant spores some of which survive temperatures up to 100 °C (212 °F). Norovirus and Hepatitis A can sometimes survive temperatures up to 88 °C (190 °F). Once cooked, hot foods should be kept at temperatures out of the danger zone. Temperatures above 63 °C (135 °F) stop microbial growth.

Cold foods should also be kept colder than the danger zone, below 5 °C (41 °F). However, Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica can both grow at refrigerator temperatures. Control of the Cold chain is critical.

Hot foods should be held at 57 °C (135 °F) or hotter until ready to cool. Hot foods need to be cooled quickly to limit the amount of time the food is in the danger zone (temperature range at which bacteria can grow.) The food should be cooled from 57 °C (135 °F) to 10 °C (50 °F) within two hours, then further chilled to less than 5 °C (41 °F) in 4 hours. Foods take much longer to cool than most people realize. Food should then be held chilled at 5 °C (41 °F) or less.

Critique

Note that the above advice is open to critique

• For example, some spore forming bacteria can survive cooking until the CORE TEMPERATURE is 75 °C or above - and may in fact be stimulated to grow. If food is cooked to a core temperature of 75 °C, it must be kept out of the "danger zone" (5 to 60 °C) thereafter to prevent spore formers from multiplying. Spore formers like Clostridium perfringens can cause serious gastroenteritis.

• Another problem is that although a core temperature of 75 °C will kill most dangerous vegetative bacteria it does not inactivate some toxins (eg staphylococcal enterotoxin). So it is possible to become ill after eating well cooked food, as the food may already be contaminated with toxins before cooking.

For more information, see Foodborne illness.

Merger proposal

I propose merging Food and cooking hygiene into this page. (they both need cleaning up too). FiveRings (talk) 02:32, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Um, it appears that they are both one page anyway. Or if there has been a Food and cooking hygiene page elsewhere it has been lost.

M —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.142.158.2 (talk) 14:00, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

yes, the crickets and I decided to move it several months ago. FiveRings (talk) 17:23, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

The biggest vandalism is....

动态网络技术公司 because I am unable to access to this site unless through them —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.62.138.34 (talk) 12:14, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Food safety discussion at Wikiversity

Interested in cloning or growth hormones related to food safety? Visit the radio discussion at Wikiversity: >click here<. Add relevant links to the page and discuss at it's talk page. Cheers! --Gbaor (talk) 06:26, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

Please do not auto direct....

ISO has published a series of standards regarding the Food safety management system and ISO 22000 is only one of them--222.67.216.32 (talk) 06:44, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Please do not remove the link of .....

Food Administration —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.78.227.72 (talk) 11:58, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Toxic??

Seems like a strange category that adds little to the topic. According to toxic article, the definition is used for dose-dependent poisons. I don't think that category is useful or appropriate for this article. If the article were entitled Food poisoning, I could see it. Bob98133 (talk) 13:09, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Help

I need someone to swap the two templates...Food Quality and Food Safety. I made a mistake, it should be the other way around Doseiai2 (talk) 20:20, 19 January 2010 (UTC) -- Nevermind, I fixed the issue by renaming new template to Consumer Food Safety, re-moved old template to former name Doseiai2 (talk) 20:48, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

The importance of monographs for food items

• http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Food_safety&diff=195070111&oldid=195069830
• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=0&q=allintitle:+dietary+monograph&hl=en&as_sdt=2000
• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=0&q=allintitle:+food+monograph&hl=en&as_sdt=2000
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6R-43W5FS4-1&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1229013509&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=89a0f2223526398fc497d00dc234df92

--222.67.211.208 (talk) 12:19, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19824365

--222.67.211.208 (talk) 12:24, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

POV

"The U.S. food industry has jeopardized American public health through a variety of techniques, including withholding information from food safety investigators, and pressuring regulators to withdraw or alter policy that protects consumers, according to U.S. government scientists and inspectors. A survey found that 25% of U.S. government inspectors and scientists surveyed have experienced during the past year corporate interests forcing their food safety agency to withdraw or to modify agency policy or action that protects consumers. Scientists have observed that management undercuts field inspectors who stand up for food safety against industry pressure. According to Dr. Dean Wyatt, a USDA veterinarian who oversees federal slaughter house inspectors, "Upper level management does not adequately support field inspectors and the actions they take to protect the food supply. Not only is there lack of support, but there's outright obstruction, retaliation and abuse of power." [9]"

Starting that paragraph as it was seemed like someone had a bone to pick with the industry. I edited it to hopefully make it clear that it was one report's findings, and to also give more credit to a near exact lifting of that report's wording. Can we be a little more careful here please? Umma Kynes 19:21, 16 September 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ummakynes (talk • contribs)

The topic of food chemical safety are based on the following....

• http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+%22food+chemical+safety%22&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0
• http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/search.aspx?basic=Food%20chemical%20safety%20volume%201

--222.64.215.26 (talk) 11:30, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

Further information: CRC Press

and

Further information: Woodhead Publishing

Changing USA Regulations

With the passage of the Food Safety Enhancement Act House of Representatives in August 2009, and the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act in the Senate in November 2010, there is a great need to expand the section on USA Regulations. Microbiojen (talk) 00:34, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

potential resource

Unreported Cases of Food Poisoning Reflect a Gap in Food Supply Safety Net by SCOTT JAMES published NYT January 5, 2012.

See San Francisco Bay Area 99.190.80.182 (talk) 06:51, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

"Consumer tips: How to keep food safe"

While useful, this is essentially a "how to" guide and it is not Wikipedia's purpose - see WP:NOTHOWTO. The material needs to be properly incorporated or the section needs to be removed. Halsteadk (talk) 21:46, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

suggested change

the section entitled HACCP links to the appropriate page, however there is a paragraph on cooking temperatures. this has very little to do with HACCP. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.192.229.211 (talk) 15:40, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

External Link Removal

I removed a link to a GE whitepaper, it looked to promote their own software's credentials in ensuring food safety....seemed very advert-like. Let me know what others think. The nature of the link (with a specific tracking parameter made me think it might be part of a marketing campaign) RoyalBlueStuey (talk) 15:34, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

I also see that the URL links to Wikipedia - [1]. The information the paper seems appropriate but it is very unusual to have an external link to a site which requires registration to access the media. I am ambivalent but agree that if you think it should be removed then it is fine for you to remove it. I certainly do wish that information from that paper and similar papers could be integrated into this Wikipedia article and cited appropriately. Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:14, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Singapore

As my edit was removed by User:Dpmuk with the comment: "Most of Singapore seems to be copied from elsewhere" , I'll like to agree with that and show the references:

Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), was established on 1 April 2000. It ensures a supply of safe food, safeguards the health of animals and plants and facilitates agri-trade for the well-being of Singapore. Although, feedback on unhygienic practices; unwholesome food at food retail establishments such as Cafes, Restaurants or Hawker centre is handled by the National Environment Agency.

• Reference 1: Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore
• Reference 2: National Environment Agency

So how can we improve that section rather than removing it? Thanks for your feedback. --huggi - never stop exploring (talk) 03:48, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

Why is food safety important?

Food safety refers to the conditions and practices that preserve the quality of food to prevent contamination and food-borne illnesses. Foodborne illness continues to be an urgent issue across the United States. In fact, the CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 out of 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases.

Following the four basic food safety steps:

1.Clean. Wash hands and surfaces often.

2. Separate. Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods.

3. Cook. Raw meat, poultry, seafood, and egg products need to be cooked to the right temperature. Use a food thermometer to ensure foods have reached a high enough temperature to kill any harmful bacteria that may be present.

4. Chill. Refrigerate food promptly. Do not leave food at room temperature for more than two hours--one hour when the temperature is above 90 °F (32.2 °C). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sharonmartin01 (talk • contribs) 10:00, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

Hi, I am a student editor and I want to write about several types of food contamination. Are there any suggestions? I just post some contents on the page. Feel free to offer any advice to me!Xintong Di (talk) 03:39, 23 June 2018 (UTC)

Too many invisible parentheses

In considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods.

I tried to do a quick parse tree.

In considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include:

• the origins of food including:
  • the practices relating to food labeling
  • food hygiene
  • food additives and pesticide residues
• as well as policies on:
  • biotechnology and food
• and guidelines for the management of
  • governmental import and export inspection
  • and certification systems for foods.

There's many places here where my first stab at a parse tree could be second guessed.

Are the "guidelines" intended to subordinate to "policy"? Who TF knows from the invisible parentheses. Why even write in such a dense fashion? For what purpose? A better sentence would admit no such problems. — MaxEnt 05:20, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

Culinary practices content

I have cut this section from hygiene and am proposing to move it to this article (maybe). However, it contains no reference and it's like a "how-to" list so perhaps it's not suitable for this article either? This is the list: ++++++ Culinary practices include:

• Cleaning and disinfection of food-preparation areas and equipment (for example using designated cutting boards for preparing raw meats and vegetables). Cleaning may involve use of chlorine bleach, ethanol, ultraviolet light, etc. for disinfection.
• Careful avoidance of meats contaminated by trichina worms, salmonella, and other pathogens; or thorough cooking of questionable meats.
• Extreme care in preparing raw foods, such as sushi and sashimi.
• Institutional dish sanitizing by washing with soap and clean water.
• Washing of hands thoroughly before touching any food.
• Washing of hands after touching uncooked food when preparing meals.
• Not using the same utensils to prepare different foods.
• Not sharing cutlery when eating.
• Not licking fingers or hands while or after eating.
• Not reusing serving utensils that have been licked.
• Proper storage of food so as to prevent contamination by vermin.
• Refrigeration of foods (and avoidance of specific foods in environments where refrigeration is or was not feasible).
• Labeling food to indicate when it was produced (or, as food manufacturers prefer, to indicate its "best before" date).
• Proper disposal of uneaten food and packaging.

++++++ EMsmile (talk) 03:03, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Reheating food

I have just asked this question about mushrooms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Edible_mushroom#Safe_to_reheat%3F , but it seems to be part of an issue which should be treated here, at least with a link to some other article. PJTraill (talk) 08:54, 31 October 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: SSC199 TY2

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 November 2022 and 16 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kmart0915 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Bibaschh, SamSince2003, Allie2004, Subi6197.

— Assignment last updated by SamSince2003 (talk) 19:40, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Food

Food safety is very important because it can reduce the risk of poisoning, diarrhea, sickness,. 49.147.100.155 (talk) 11:29, 21 November 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Introduction to Policy Analysis - Summer Session23

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 August 2023 and 8 September 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Bebopboop (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Bebopboop (talk) 02:38, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Question

In the introductory paragraph for the food jurisdictions in the United States, it starts out by saying that the U.S. lacks in funding for this, why could that be? StaticOrc (talk) 17:40, 8 September 2023 (UTC)

Chemical contamination of food packaging

This article doesn't mention contaminants that are often found in food packaging, such as PFAS. Should these contaminants be mentioned in this section? Jarble (talk) 18:51, 14 March 2024 (UTC)