Foodborne Disease in 2011 – The Rest of the Story,” an article in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, tells us that the recently passed Food Safety Modernization Act is good legislature, but that the funding to back it up may be anemic.

Everyone knows that unsafe food (usually the result of contamination) can lead to disease and infection. ServSafe Essentials® reminds us that food safety hazards categories include biological, chemical and physical. And among the five most common risk factors that cause foodborne illnesses are largely related to these three main factors: “time-temperature abuse, cross contamination and poor personal hygiene.”

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention adds these Rules of Food Safety which apply universally (eating away from home or preparing food at home) for food handling:

CLEAN – Clean your hands with soap and warm water before handling food. Clean surfaces before preparing food on them.

SEPARATE – Separate cooked foods from ready-to-eat foods. Do not use utensils on cooked foods that were previously used on raw foods and do not place cooked foods on plates where raw foods once were unless it has been cleaned thoroughly.

COOK
Cook foods to a safe internal temperature (see chart). Use a meat thermometer to make sure foods are cooked to a safe temperature. Color is not an indicator of doneness.

CHILL
Chill foods promptly after serving and when transporting from one place to another. Keep your refrigerator at 40°F or below. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

NOTE: Here is a link to the US Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code Website (the basis for Pennsylvania’s Code) addresses food service establishment employee health, personal cleanliness and hygienic practices guidelines.