FOOD HYGIENE(WHO)
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), food hygiene includes all necessary measures to ensure the safety (not hurt us) health food.
The food hygiene covers a broad field that includes manipulation of plant food, breeding, marketing and slaughter of animals and the health processes designed to prevent bacteria of human origin from getting into food.
The food contamination occurs from different sources like: air, water, soil, human beings, animals and other living things. Not all microorganisms that contaminate raw foods health are equally important, some are spoilage and other pathogens (disease-causing us).
The World Health Organization (WHO), establishes a set of rules designed to prevent the occurrence of foodborne illness due to poor handling.
These rules are known as the "Golden Rules" and are as follows:
1 Use foods processed or handled hygienically.
While some foods are better in their natural state (fruits and vegetables), others need some kind of special conservation treatment or sanitizer to be safe (eg milk, which must be sanitized (pasteurized, sterilized, UHT) meats and fish, who must undergo conservation treatment by cold, the eggs used in the preparation of food, if not suffer a heat treatment such as to achieve at every point a temperature of at least 75 ° C, should be replaced by egg product pasteurized, etc.)
2-Cook food thoroughly.
Raw food contaminated with microorganisms often come, sometimes pathogens. However if we cook food destroy such that at every point within the temperature range equal to or greater than 65 ° C.
3-Eat cooked foods immediately.
The longer you wait to eat food after cooking more likely they become contaminated with microorganisms. Also, if you keep food at room temperature resistant forms of bacteria that may have survived the cooking can germinate, give rise to new bacteria and these multiply to dangerous levels.
4-Save properly cooked food.
If cooked foods not be consumed immediately after their preparation, should be kept warm by means of systems that guarantee that all points are reached temperatures at or above 65 ° C, or cooled immediately achieving a temperature in the center of food of 8 º C in less than 2 hours.
5-Reheat cooked food enough.
Kept cold meals needing overheat, be subjected to this operation must be achieved in less than 1 hour at a temperature of at least 65-70 ° C in all parts.
Overheating, besides being heavy, should be done as close posibleal time of service. This measure is the most effective way to destroy microorganisms that may have increased during the storage phase.
6-Avoid contact between raw and cooked foods.
A cooked food can become contaminated with microorganisms present in raw foods.
This type of pollution, which is known by the name of "cross-contamination" may be direct, due to contacts between the two food groups, or indirect, whether cooked foods are handled with the same utensils used for raw without being cleaned and disinfected properly.
7-Wash hands frequently.
Through hands is how we handle food mostly do our work. Therefore it is essential to wash your hands before you start cooking, after handling raw foods, after having used the toilet, after handling garbage and as often as necessary.
8-Clean and disinfect surfaces, equipment and utensils.
The surfaces of desks, equipment and utensils used for handling raw foods are imbued with many microorganisms. Therefore it is essential to cleaning and disinfection of the systematic and programmed.
9-Protect foods from insects, rodents and other pests.
Insects, rodents and pets often carry microorganisms which when transmitted to food can make them dangerous to health. Therefore appropriate measures should be taken to avoid them or to remove them where necessary.
10-Use drinking water.
Water used both for drinking and food preparation, as well as to clean and disinfect, must necessarily be drinking.
