Preventing Food Contamination

I found this article and it's pretty informative, it tells how food can become contaminated at the farm, long before it gets to the restaurant or the store. Check it out!

The link is http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-home/preventing-food-contamination.aspx


Preventing Food Contamination

Food contamination can happen in your own home, right on your kitchen counter. But by following a few food safety habits when cooking and storing food, you can help keep bacteria at bay.
By Diana Rodriguez
Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH
Bacteria only infest food when it's weeks old, right? And if food looks fresh at the grocery store, it’s probably safe to eat, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, you can't spot bacteria-riddled food just by looking at it. And food can spoil, even if refrigerated, faster than you might think. Learning how food contamination happens, and how to keep bacteria out of your kitchen and your meals, can help keep your family safe.

What Kinds of Bacteria Are to Blame?

Certain types of bacteria are responsible for most food contamination in the United States:

Clostridium botulinum, which cause botulism, is found in canned, vacuum-sealed, or other packaged foods, as well as in garlic packed in oil. Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli) can be found in raw or undercooked ground beef, raw fruits and vegetables, unpasteurized milk, and apple juice, and can also be transmitted through human contact. Salmonella is found in poultry, meat, unpastureurized milk and dairy, raw or undercooked eggs, and seafood, and may be transmitted by people who prepare food. Staphylococcus aureus can be found in any food handled by an infected person who has touched food with staph-contaminated hands. Shigella can be found in any food handled by a person touching food with hands contaminated with shigella-infected fecal matter. Listeria monocytogenes is located in processed foods like deli and lunch meats and cheeses, hot dogs, some sausages, and unpasteurized milk and cheeses. Clostridium perfringens can be found in any food left at room temperature or on a warming tray or table for a significant amount of time. Campylobacter jejuni is found in unpasteurized milk, poultry, shellfish, raw or undercooked meats, and contaminated water. Many of these bacteria cause very uncomfortable symptoms such as abdominal cramping, vomiting, and diarrhea that can last from several days to more than a week. Without treatment, some of these bacteria (like Clostridium botulinium) can actually lead to death.

How Food Contamination Happens

The food we eat can be contaminated during any of the many steps it takes to get it from the farm to our table. Food contamination can occur when:

The animal that is eventually slaughtered for meat has bacteria in its intestinal tract. Meat becomes contaminated with bacteria during the slaughter. Produce is washed or watered with bacteria-contaminated water. A hen's ovaries are infected with bacteria. Bacteria in ocean water contaminate the fish that live there. Humans handle meat and other foods with unwashed hands during processing. Food processing equipment is contaminated. The same utensils are used for multiple foods, transferring bacteria from contaminated food to uncontaminated food. Food is left out of the refrigerator and sits at room temperature for more than a few hours. Food is left in a refrigerator for too long. If you think there’s any chance you have food that has been contaminated, don’t risk eating it — throw it out right away.

Who’s Most at Risk From Food Contamination?

If you suspect that you ate food that was contaminated with bacteria, you may need to see a doctor, especially if you are at an increased risk of a severe or dangerous reaction to foodborne illness. People at a higher risk include those who are:

Elderly Pregnant Breastfeeding Living with a chronic condition like diabetes or kidney disease Living with a compromised immune system Exposed to harmful organisms while traveling to a foreign country You don't need an antibiotic to get over most illnesses caused by food contamination; instead, you usually must wait it out until the bacteria leaves your system. Be careful to drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration, and avoid dairy products to prevent making diarrhea more severe.

Foodborne illness can be extremely serious in some cases, but for most people it just causes serious discomfort. Protect yourself from foodborne illness by buying fresh foods, storing food properly, avoiding food contamination in the kitchen, and keeping your foods properly refrigerated.

Copyright © 2011 Everyday Health, Inc.
The material on this web site is provided for educational purposes only, and is not to be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information. Use of this site is subject to our terms of service and privacy policy.

How Dairy Products Get Contamited.

Well,that's a easy question. The cow it can depend what the cow eats.Dirt can make it,get continmated,or it can be how the farmer treats the cow. Another way is how the milk is procced. If it isn't procced correctly, it will get continamted,and it will get back. Like I said before, it can be also how the cow is treated,eats.If the dairy gets continamated it will go to other products that people mostly uses.So, thats why they pasteurize products to kill the bactreria to kill the indeed germs.So,after that. The products will be heated,then shipped to stores to people use. If this messes up. The food will get continamted quickly then people will get sick. Basic all I'm trying to say is this: What a cow eats ,or If the dairy isn't paturized correctly it will get contimated

Now, this is how dairy products get continamted. We don't want to get sick. Let's hope the food didn't get continamted.

How Can Dairy Products Get Contianmted

Where is the greatest risk of food poisoning?

Where is The Greatest Risk of Contracting a

Food Poisoning or Foodborne Illness?

Inside or Outside Your Home?

(i.e. Restaurant, Deli, Cafeteria, Hotel Kitchen, Public or Private Event)?


The study results for the sources of outbreaks are pretty overwhelming or obvious.

Restaurants: 52%
Home: 18%
School: 4%
Unknown: 4%
Other: 22%

What can Stores do to Prevent Food Contamination

Name of the Team

I came up with some more ideas for the team name. Here are some of my thoughts:

RoboChef, LegoChef, and YumYum.

Research on Dairy Products

Dairy Products

Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk.

Types of Dairy Products

-Milk, milk powder, ice-cream, condensed milk, cheese, yogurt, ice milk, custard, frozen yogurt and custard, and butter milk.

Dairy products – how they get contaminated

Our environment contains an abundance of microorganisms that find their way to the hair, udder, and teats of dairy cows and can move up the teat canal. Some of these germs cause an inflammatory disease of the udder known as mastitis while others enter the milk without causing any disease symptoms in the animal. In addition, organisms can enter the milk supply during the milking process when equipment used in milking, transporting, and storing the raw milk is not properly cleaned and sanitized.

Pasteurization

Pasteurization destroys most disease producing organisms and limits fermentation in milk, beer, and other liquids by partial or complete sterilization. The pasteurization process heats milk to 161 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees centigrade) for 15 seconds, inactivating or killing organisms that grow rapidly in milk. Pasteurization does not destroy organisms that grow slowly or produce spores. While pasteurization destroys many microorganisms in milk, improper handling after pasteurization can recontaminate milk.

I gathered this info from this website.

http://www.fcs.msue.msu.edu/ff/pdffiles/foodsafety2.pdf

Louis Pasteur

In the process of pastuerization they first heat milk to 161 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds. They then quickly cool the milk to 50 or less degrees F. Louis Pasteur also created a vaccination to cure rabies. Louis Pasteur invented the process of pasteurization. I found this info in the World Book Encyclopedia from 1976. Pasteurizing milk does not change the flavor but ordinary boiling would kill all bacteria and destroys the flavor of the milk.
--Kyle

Research on Dairy Contamination

I learned that pasteurization is a process to get rid of most diseases in milk. They heat the milk at a certain temperature which is always the same.

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized. Very few people drink raw milk because it runs a higher risk of contamination so the stores only sell pasteurized milk. The diseases that can be in raw milk are listeria, diphtheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and brucellosis. Some farmers drink raw milk.

“In 1938, milk borne outbreaks constituted twenty-five percent (25%) of all disease outbreaks due to infected foods and contaminated water. Our most recent information reveals that milk and fluid milk products continue to be associated with less than one percent (<1%) of such reported outbreaks.” From http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/MilkSafety/NationalConferenceonInterstateMilkShipmentsNCIMSModelDocuments/UCM209789.pdf From this quote I found out that it is not a very common source of food contamination.

How Do Dairy Products Get Infected?

There are many enviromental microbes in milk here are some i have learned. Campylobacter Jejyuni = is the most commen bacteria in the USA it is found in raw milk and poultry. Coxiella Burnetii = the microbe is found in milk and effects small animals.

Pictures for 3/8/2011

Next time I will bring my real camera and not use my phone. Here they are...

New Post Test

Hello, test.

Great job!

Guys,

I can tell you have been working hard researching this week. You have had some insightful information to post! I can't wait to hear what you have to share with each other at our next meeting. Remember to print things off and put them in your binder that you find interesting or helpful. Also, it would be a good idea to cite your sources when you post information on the blog. That way, we know where to go if we need to find additional information later on. Great job with your research so far!!

Any new ideas for a team name? You may post suggestions as comments to this posting.

Ms. Beth

- Vehicles Used To Transport Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products

● Vehicle design should permit effective inspection, cleaning, disinfection, and temperature control.

● Interior surfaces should be made of materials that are suitable for

direct food contact. For example, the surfaces may be made with

stainless steel or be coated with food-grade epoxy resins.

● Meat, poultry, and egg product transportation vehicles, accessories,

and connections should be kept clean and free from dirt, debris,

and any other substance or odor that may contaminate the

product. They should be disinfected as needed. Cleaning and

sanitation procedures should be specified in writing.

● Cargo pallets, load securing devices, and loading equipment

should be kept clean and free of potential food contaminants and

be regularly washed and sanitized.

● Equipment used in transferring meat, poultry, and egg products,

such as hand trucks, conveyors, and forklifts, should be well

maintained and kept in a sanitary condition.

● Secure transport vehicles to prevent tampering when not in use.

❏ Use dedicated transport vehicles.

● Transport vehicles, containers, and conveyances should be

designated and marked “for food use only,” and be used only for

transporting foods. If feasible, they should be restricted to a single

commodity. This reduces the risk of cross contamination from

previous cargoes.

Paragraph of researsch

Regulations of the FDA.
The FDA regulates everything that the USDA does not. The USDA regulates meat, poultry, and egg products. (defendingfoodsafety.com)
The common sources of contamination
The common contaminants are Salmonella, E-coli, Calicivirius, Staph, Botulism, and Listeria.
 These are ways food can get contaminated:
1. Exposure to feces, bacterial infection, and contaminated ground water. (These happen at the farm.)
2. If food is improperly heated or cooled it becomes a bacterial paradise. (This happens in transportation when in the back of a hot truck.)
3. When pieces of metal shavings, pesticides, and chemicals get in the food it contaminates the food. (This happens in the factory.)
(eagletechnology.com)
Technology
The researchers at Purdue University have made a machine that electrifies the food to get rid of any salmonella or E-coli in prepackaged food. It uses 30-40 watts of electricity and it only takes 30 seconds to 5 minutes. (defendingfoodsafety.com)
Space researches found out that salmonella is more damaging in space by doing tests on the space station.