Food Safety Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Food Safety Paper - Essay Example Food can easily get contaminated by a number of reasons. Some types include microbiological contamination which is unnoticeable and occurs swiftly if food is left open. Another type of contamination includes physical contamination which is noticeable to the naked eye but occurs due to inattentiveness towards food in particles form. The last type of contamination is chemical contamination which occurs through airborne chemical substances which settle into food and may be very harmful (D'Mello, 2003). In UK, during the last 15 years, there has been a substantial increase in incidents related to food safety. In 1980, incidents regarding food-borne illness were around 12,700 in UK which bolstered up to 100,000 in 1998. The Health Education Authority (HEA) conducted a research which portrayed that around three million children even under teenage make their own breakfast and that 65 percent of such children serve their parents with evening cooked meals. There were 57 percent of children wh o prepared food with pets around them, and 46 percent shared their food with their pets during preparation (Food and Drink Federation, 1996). This shows how food safety is left loose and can be harmful for both, children and their parents. The incidents of most concern to citizens of the United Kingdom involve many unknown factors. In 1986, the first incidence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in British cattle was reported. It was not until 1996, however, that U.K. scientists identified a possible link between BSE, a new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), and 14 deaths. This discovery resulted in the slaughter of all beef cattle over 30 months old and worldwide bans on sales of British beef. The sale of beef on the bone also was temporarily banned. Research into the long-term impact of BSE in cattle and it’s; relationship to CJD in humans is ongoing. The British government is investing heavily in research to learn more about the long-term impact on the populati on (Patnoad, 2001). Food safety involves a number of steps which need to be carried in order to ensure safe consumption. For this, the food must be well stored in clean and sanitized storage facilities, followed by proper preparation equipments and preservation facilities. In the United Kingdom, the sanitation process of food begins immediately after the food items are acquired from the market and is carried out effectively until the leftovers of the food are dealt with properly. These sanitation measures are not too complicated and can be easily practiced at home too. These measures are constructed with a series of processes that are followed in order to provide quality sanitized food from the commercial kitchens in UK to the customers, effectively. Firstly, it is made sure that food is prevented from getting contaminated through any types mentioned earlier. This is done by the decisive action of storing the food properly. Food items like sugar, flour, spices and cornmeal should be kept in airtight containers to barrier out bacteria present in the air. Also, items like vegetables and meat should be safely kept into airtight containers into a cold storage like freezer (Griffith, 1995). Commercial kitchens in the U.K have laid down basic kitchen sanitation guidelines which they follow which ultimately serves to be a vital element of food safety. They ensure that their preparation counters are properly sanitized and disinfected