The importance of food safety

Fresh and clean foods are important to good nutrition. Preventing food from becoming mouldy or otherwise spoiled reduces waste. Taking steps to see that food does not beome contaminated with with food poisoining bacteria also reduces losses and illness. Spoilage organisms such as bacteria and moulds in food can both reduce the foods nutrient value and cause disease

Disease causing bacteria can contaminte food and water and cause food poisoining. This can take the form of diseases such as typhoid Cholera and hepatitis. In some curcumstance mould growing on food can frorm poisons known as mycotoxins, which can cause illness and sometimes even death . Internal parasites can be transmitted through foods that have been contaminated with paraside eggs or cysts, and in some cases the infetive stage of a sparasite can be transmitted in foods such as meat and fish.
Bacteria, moulds and parasites can contaminate food in different ways, including the follwoing
from the soil or water where it is grown
from handling at harvest, during processing or marketing, or during storage and
by human or animal sewage from hands, flies rats or other pests, or by contaminated air or water.
In many countries serious diseases such as cholera and typhoid are rare, though food poisoning of other types remains a common problem. Losses from food spoilage and contamination are also very common.
The symptoms of food poisoning commonly include nausea, vomating abdominal pain, diarrhoea and fever though not all of these may occur in every case. Symptoms vary depending upon the cause.
The usually start between one and 36 hours after eating the contaminated food, and may last for a depending upon the cause and the overall fitness of the sick person.
Some bacteria, for example most salmonella bacteria, can increase in number in food very contaminated with large numbers of bacteria can be a source of contamination of other foods. This cross contamination of foods can happen when food contaminated by hands, files or other insects or pests touches a clean food or when clean foods touch a contaminated surface or implement.

Cross contamination of foods is a common cause of outbreaks of food poisoning. Ity is important to remember that bacteria in foods can increase in number very rapidly in certain curcumstances. Under conditions that favour their rapid growth such as the right temperature one bacterium can increase to 100 million bacteria with in 9 hours Even with such large numbers they cannot be seen without the use of a microscope.

The risk of food poisoning and of losses through spoilage can be greatly reduced if some basic rules are followed. These rules are dsigned to kill bacteria nad moulds where possible, stop them increasing in number , and stop them being transferred or spread. They should be followed at all time and at all stages in food production,
prepration, storage marketing and serving. These rules will prevent food related illnesses and reduce the wastage of food.