Why Is Food Safety Important?

Whether you’re cooking for friends and family at home or making dishes in an upscale restaurant, food safety is a must. Food safety prevents contamination, which can lead to illness, if not other consequences as well. The best way to learn how to be food safe is to enrol in a food safety course.

Food safety training teaches you how to store and cook food in the safest ways possible. This is particularly important if you work in a restaurant or café. Serving contaminated food can have some serious consequences.

So, what are the risks when it comes to poor food safety?

Risks involved in poor food safety

For starters, contaminated food can be swimming with bacteria and viruses like:

• Hepatitis A
• Listeria
• Salmonella
• Campylobacter
• E.Coli

These foodborne illnesses can cause indigestion, vomiting and sometimes even death. These diseases are particularly harmful for children under the age of four, adults over the age of 50 and anyone who has a compromised immune system. Their bodies are not as effective at fighting the bacteria and viruses and they may suffer more extreme symptoms. These symptoms can lead to further complications that may require hospitalisation.

In Australia, there are five million reported cases of foodborne diseases each year. Of these cases, almost 100 people die from the disease.

There are also knock-on effects from food poisoning and similar illnesses. Of these five million reported cases, more than two million people will have to not go to work because of illness. This can cause the individual and the company to lose money.

Further, restaurants that serve contaminated food may need to pay compensation. Compensation is intended to cover significant lost wages and medical costs.

Eateries may also face fines as high as $200,000 for serving contaminated food. If a restaurant does not meet food safety requirements, they can also be fined up to $10,000. This can include making sure a business has a designated and qualified Food Safety Supervisor, as well as all staff handling food are knowledgeable on current food safety practices.

There’s clearly a lot at stake when it comes to food contamination and food safety. This is why food safety training courses are important.

What you learn in a food safety course

When completing a Food Safety Certificate, you’ll learn about a lot of ways to ensure cleanliness and hygiene while handling this food, as well as proper cooking, cooling and storage of food. This stops the growth and spread of bacteria and viruses that cause food poisoning. Some of the topics you cover will be:

• Personal hygiene
  Food safety starts with you and this includes your own hygiene. Washing your hands is one of the most important and effective ways to minimise food risks. This includes thoroughly using soap before preparing any food, as well as after touching raw meat, fish, eggs or vegetables with soil on them. You should also wash your hands after using the toilet, blowing your nose, touching an animal or touching any sores or cuts. This also includes drying your hands properly afterwards as well.
  
  
  Personal hygiene also includes making sure you wear clean clothing. This includes changing protective clothing regularly – gloves and hairnets should only be used once.
  
  
• Kitchen hygiene
  Your kitchen should be cleaned regularly and raw ingredients should typically not touch. For instance, this means using different chopping boards for raw meat and fresh vegetables. This same principle applies to knives and utensils.
  
  
  Surfaces should be regularly sanitised but carefully to avoid harmful chemicals being ingested.
  
  
• Proper food storage
  Food has an expected fridge life (when stored under 5oC) before it may be contaminated. This varies depending on the food. For instance, uncooked poultry, like chicken, should only be kept for three days, whereas red meat, like steaks, can last for five days.
  
  
  When it comes to cooked food, if you’re freezing it, it should be cool before putting it into the fridge. You shouldn’t be able to see any steam coming off it. If you don’t wait, the steam can create moisture inside the container and provide a means for bacteria to grow.
  
  
• Proper cooking
  The minimum cooking temperature varies for different foods. For instance, sausages and other processed meats need to be cooked to at least 71oC so that they are cooked through to the centre, while steaks can be seared on the outside and rare on the inside (63oC). Cooking food properly makes it harder for bacteria to grow.

Completing a food safety training course and getting a food hygiene certificate can help you cook delicious and safe meals. Food safety is an incredibly important issue that affects everyone and it should be taken seriously. Even if you don’t work in a professional kitchen, understanding food safety is vital. Having a food safety and hygiene and certificate can also make you a more valuable employee in the food industry.