Food Safety

By Chené Vorster, RD(SA)

Food is an essential part to life and it is something that we require in our everyday lives to survive. It is thus very important that we practice safe food handling techniques to prevent foodborne illnesses. Globally, millions of people become ill and thousands die from foodborne illnesses.

There are many regulations in place in every country to ensure that food is handled safely. In South Africa, there are three departments in charge of food legislation; Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Department of Health (DoH) and Department of Trade and Industry. The DAFF regulates the safety and quality of food products in several acts of parliament. Despite all the preventative measures taken, the consumer still needs to be informed on food issues and safety measures when handling, preparing and storing food.

In our fast-paced world, serious local outbreaks have led to international emergencies due to the fast and wide distribution of food products. Food safety is often challenged in four major areas:

1. Microbiological safety: Growth of microbials on foods can lead to foodborne illnesses. Over 90% of foodborne illnesses are caused by different species of viruses.
2. Chemical safety: Chemical additives can have high levels of heavy metals that are dangerous to human health.
3. Personal hygiene: Poor hygiene practices lead to contamination of food.
4. Environmental hygiene: High counts of pests and insect from poor waste disposal can lead to food contamination in poor sanitary conditions.

Here are some tips to make sure you are as safe as can be in your kitchen:

1. Be squeaky clean:
   1. Wash your hands with soap and warm water, especially after touching common household items.
   1. Always rinse your fruits and veggies.
   1. Wash your kitchen equipment with HOT water.
2. Prevent cross-contamination:
   1. Separate your raw meat, fish and poultry from your prepared or ready-to-eat foods.
   1. Use different chopping boards for raw meats, cooked meats, veggies and grains.
3. Cook and chill:
   1. Use a thermometer to check that your food is 100% cooked.
   1. Keep foods out of the danger zone (4-40*C). Store foods above or below this temperature.
   1. Defrost foods in the fridge, not on the countertop or in the sun.
   1. Discard perishables after they’ve been left for 2 hours at room temperature.
4. Pay attention to food recalls.

References:

1. Whitney, E. and Rolfes, S., 2016. Understanding Nutrition. 14th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning.
2. Fung, F., Wang, H. and Menon, S., 2018. Food safety in the 21st century. Biomedical Journal, 41(2), pp.88-95.