Important Food Safety Terms You Should Know

Understanding food safety techniques first requires an understanding of key terms and concepts. This article will define and explain some of the most important terms you need to know to keep you and your family healthy.

BACTERIA: Microorganisms that can cause food borne illness and food spoilage. Bacteria are more commonly involved in food-related illness than viruses, fungi, or parasites. Some bacteria spores can survive freezing and high temperatures.

CONTAMINATION: The presence of harmful substances in food. Some contamination occurs naturally. Some may be introduced by humans or other environmental agents.

CROSS-CONTAMINATION: When harmful substances or bacteria is physically transferred from one source (e.g. human) to another.

Food Adulteration

Food Adulteration is the major problem related to food faced by all the countries all over the world. Not only the developing countries like India, all the developed countries are facing the problem of Food Adulteration. As a result of this the people who consume the adulterated food are badly affected and sometimes even may resulting to food poisoning. Sometimes the results of consumption of adulterated food are immediate. In other cases the affect may be delayed and the delayed affect may be more dangerous even which may lead to cancer. The best example of this delayed effect is consumption of metal contaminated food. Metals enter into the food through air, water, soil or by industrial pollution and contaminate the food. Metallic components of arsenic oxides, Barium carbonates may accidentally make their way into the foods. Packaging material, containers, metal machinery that is used during food processing and distribution are the other sources of contamination. Metals are naturally present in foods and even mere changes in the dietary uptake it leads to toxic effects. Some of the metals like lead, tin cadmium, mercury, arsenic, zinc, copper, aluminum, cobalt and chromium when consumed in large quantities are toxic. Studies conducted by scientists at Industrial Toxicology Research centre, Lucknow found that silver foil used for sweets and in pan masala contain nickel, lead, chromium, and cadmium. These metals when accumulated slowly in the body become carcinogenic and may result in cancer. Silver foil with a purity of 99% can be used in edible form. A survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) also found high levels of pesticide residues in bovine milk and metals like arsenic, cadmium and lead in infant canned products and turmeric. Nickel, a trace metal that could cause cancer is present in Indian chocolates, water, and hydrogenated vegetable oil and even in milk. These types of Adulterants which are incidentally which enters the food products are called as Incidental Adulterants or Unintentional Adulterants.
The Incidental adulterants pass sequentially through the food chian in the following way: Contamination begins when farmers use pesticides to protect crops. The Health department sprays pesticides to control malaria-causing mosquitoes. Residues remain long after spraying .Cattle, fodder and chicken feed are affected, and ground water, meat, fish, milk and egg get toxic. More spraying done to prevent fungus and rodents from attacking stored grain. Further increases the residue levels in foodstuffs. Sellers dip vegetables in pesticides to make them look fresh as well as to preserve them. Oils and sweets are adulterated with prohibited substances. Even after cooking toxic residues are not destroyed and when ingested pesticides are absorbed by small intestine. Fatty tissues present in the body store these pesticides which can lead to the damage of heart, Brain, kidney and liver. Strict control on various sources of contamination, established control of quality control by authorities, strict follow up with the accepted standards and food labeling will avoid the excessive contamination of food with metals. These standards and rules include Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954(PFA 1954), PFA Rules 1955, Standard weights and measures Act 1976, AGMARK, Bureau of Indian Standards (ISI) , Food Safety and Standard Act 2006( FSSA 2006 ).
The incidental poisoning can be prevented by doing the following things:
–>Regular market surveys to warn people dangerous build-up of toxins in food.
–>Stepping up the integrated pest-management programme to teach farmers to use pesticides judiciously. No spraying should be done a week, before harvest.
–>Taking up on a war footing the control of pests using their natural predators.
–>Using safer pesticides like synthetic pyrethroids or Malathion.
–>By washing vegetables thoroughly before cooking.

Important Components Of Food Safety Standards

There may be several food safety standards, but their goal is always the same. Each set of rules aims to ensure that food items will not cause harm to consumers. There are no distinct boundaries to tell these standards apart, although there are different ways to look at it. These regulations can be grouped according to food service, import or distribution. Each division is governed by different agencies, which may enforce diverse sets of standards:

1. Imports

Food safety standards that deal with this division are the most widespread among all regulations. Government agencies for agriculture are usually in control of these standards. Politics may also play an influential role in decision-making, especially since this division deals with trade and import. European countries, for instance, have firmer rules on importing genetically modified crops compared to the United States. Some countries may also restrict dairy products made with unpasteurized milk.

2. Distribution

Smart, Stylish Pet-food Storage Solutions

If pets had their way, they’d raid the bags containing their kibble and help themselves to an all-day feast, every day. This is hardly a desirable scenario, as it leads to obesity and digestive upset, so take care to store food where pets can’t get at it while you’re not looking.

Dogs, by the way, are not the only ones guilty of raiding bags of kibble; hungry cats have also been known to apply their claws and teeth to almost-full bags – even those heavy-duty foil models! – and help themselves to heaps of between-meal snacks.

Most pet-food storage containers are made of plastic, which is porous (so their contents are not safe from bacteria) and easily gnawed open by a large, determined dog.

Pet-supply stores sell large clips to “reseal” opened bags of kibble – but these do nothing to prevent the contents from growing stale, or permitting the entry of hungry insects.

How to Use Potassium Sorbate Yeast Infection Remedy as a Yeast Infection Cure

If you like to brew your own beer then chances are that you will have some potassium sorbate lying around the house. And if you don’t, you can always find some quite easily in places that sell home brewing products. Of course you can also find it in natural food stores, but it is definitely more colorful to be able to tell someone to get there potassium sorbate from a home brewing supply store!

Anyway the whole reason that you want potassium sorbate yeast infection remedy in the first place is because it stops the growth of yeast in their tracks, so to speak. It’s known as a highly effective fungicide, and is used in the process of brewing beer to stop the yeast from growing when it’s no longer needed for the fermentation process.

On an added note, if you look on the labels of some preserved foods, you might find that potassium sorbate is listed as one of the preservatives. This is naturally enough to suppress the growth of fungus or other harmful bacteria in the food.

The way to take potassium sorbate yeast infection remedy as a cure for yeast infections is very simple really. Use: 1 tbsp Potassium Sorbate, 1 cup Water, 1 Tampon Syringe. Dissolve the potassium sorbate in the water. Insert the tampon into the vagina and then, using the syringe, douse the tampon with the potassium sorbate solution.