How safe is the food we receive from restaurants, cafeterias and other food-service providers? A new study from the North Carolina State University - which in large kitchens, how exactly you see guidelines for food security followed first study video cameras to place, – discovered food handler, that is the risky practices more often, thought.
"Meals outside the home have involved up to 70% of outbreaks of food poisoning, making it an area of vital interest to professionals in the food safety", explains Dr. Ben Chapman, Assistant Professor and specialist in food security in the Department of family and consumption of NC State and lead author of the book. "We have to see how tight manipulative of food were in accordance with the security policies of food, so that we can determine how effective are training.".
Call data from first-hand on these food safety practices researchers the small video cameras in discrete spots placed approximately eight kitchens of the food, which to participate at the study voluntary. There are eight cameras in every kitchen, were recorded in the computer files, which later investigated by Chapman and others. What they found the need for new messages that shows on the safety of feed and food handler for methods.
"We have discovered much risky practices in some areas than we expected," says Chapman. For example, most trusted previous studies to estimate self-disclosure of food handlers and the test results are instances of "Contamination" and came to the conclusion, that cross-contamination has been relatively little visited. But Chapman studies on an event of cross-contamination by the treatment of foods per hour. In other words, the average employee kitchen Office of contamination errors cross eight, to diseases, in the typical development of eight hours.
Cross-contamination occurs, if pathogens such as salmonella, are put in a source raw or contaminated ready to eat. For example, with a knife on raw chicken meat cut and with the same knife a sandwich in half cuts. Contamination can also from direct contact, such as raw meat drip on vegetables, to be used in a salad.
"Each of this error would a criminal offence under the U.S. food and drug administration food code inspection guidelines have regarded." "But more, especially cross-contamination has the potential, leading to food poisoning and has in the recent outbreaks," says Chapman. "And it is important to note that the food-service providers, which examined best practices of the industry for the training of their staff reflects in this study."
The study confirmed the notion that long, that if more things in the kitchen are made more mistakes that become food safety. "During peak hours, increases in cross-contamination and reductions of workers guidelines for hand washing, we have found", says Chapman.
But the researchers show more problems in the new document; They describe the solutions that you can apply the foodservice industry. One suggestion is the training kitchen food safety, staff must be in the way of the "team like" of commercial kitchen, instead of focusing on food as a handler. "This study shows us that each food handler in a system works", Chapman says, "and the culture of food security the overall organization - kitchen and management - must be addressed, to make changes." For example, the place of his company in the field of food safety to mark can measures the value of the Manager of a restaurant. »
Other measures that can address food security issues are the introduction of new instruments and procedures to minimise the risk of food poisoning. New tools could be as simple as installing hand Sanitizer units in accessible areas of the kitchen, which can be effective to reduce the likelihood of transmission of certain pathogens. New procedures can hourly existing recast the preparation of food and chefs are face, pressed less time during peak hours - and are therefore less likely to errors of food safety.
The study "assessment of food safety practices in the food service food handler: testing a communication intervention" was co-authored by Dr. Douglas Powell and Katie Filion Kansas State University, as well as Tiffany Eversley and Tanya MacLaurin of the University of Guelph, Canada. The study is published in the June issue of the journal of food safety.