Purpose of This Document
Today, many retail food
and hospitality companies prepare and sell food to customers worldwide.
In each location, they are challenged with different government food safety
regulations, because retail food safety rules often preceded the development
of HACCP, when facility and personnel cleanliness were believed to be the
critical controls. Even in the United States, because of the way
the retail food laws are written, each state and territory jurisdiction
is allowed to implement what it believes to be food safety controls.
These jurisdictions are not required to show that a control they propose
such as "cook chicken to 165ºF (73.9ºC)" is actually the minimum
control necessary for adequate safety, nor are they required to demonstrate
in a kitchen how the cook is to perform the control.
This results in great non-uniformity
of effectiveness, and the retail food industry is blamed for causing illness
when, in fact, the industry has not been given specific, effective, HACCP-based,
kitchen-validated, control procedures. It is time to have one set
of universally applicable hazard control rules that are kitchen validated
and have been shown to be effective in retail operations in terms of assuring
food safety. The best people to write these rules are those in the
retail food industry, who have the knowledge to consider all factors in
writing a safety control.
Hazard control procedures
can be used to accomplish food safety in all retail kitchens and production
units. These procedures include washing fecal pathogens off of fingertips;
cleaning meat, poultry and fish pathogens from cutting boards; washing
pathogens from fruits and vegetables; and pasteurizing and fermenting food
to kill pathogens. These procedures apply to all retail kitchens
for the simple reason that the microbiological, chemical, and physical
hazards are universal. Human tolerances for the pathogenic substances
are reasonably predictable, based on the levels people normally consume.
The most complicating factor is the recipe.
Historically, recipes have
been examined from a flavor viewpoint, when, in fact, ingredients such
as vinegar, lemon juice, wine, alcohol, salt, and sugar, and procedures
such as washing, cooking, and baking (to achieve dryness and crust) are
critical to the safety of the food. Typically, people think that
these ingredients and procedures are used only for flavor. If ingredients
such as meat, poultry, fish, grains, water, etc. had not always been contaminated
with pathogenic substances, recipes would be entirely different from what
they are. The ingredients and procedures that control microorganisms
would not be needed.
Talk has begun concerning
HACCP for the farm. However, it will take years to establish controls
for the rats, mice, insects, birds, cats, wild animals, and water that
are the sources of pathogens. Relatively simple steps can be taken
to minimize cross-contamination during slaughter, but control of slaughter
does not guarantee hazard control if the animal is contaminated.
Hence, the food handler / food preparer becomes the critical control point
to control food handling processes in the kitchen..
A major problem in retail
food HACCP is, though, the hundreds of thousands of recipe processes.
They must be grouped by hazard and control, and the controls simplified
so that cooks can be taught to use the fewest number of controls to prepare
"safe" food demanded by customers.
Consumers will not dine
out at a restaurant if they are told, "Our food is very safe. Only
one in 20,000 meals makes a customer ill." Consumers demand that
retail food establishments strive for zero defects. The government
can talk about risk reduction, but the retail food industry and cook must
work for zero defects. The consumer should be able to say to the
manager, "I know the food is contaminated. What are your controls
of those hazards?"
to Section 1
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Contents