in&out of the kitchen – health & safety
How Safe is your food? Text By Paulino Schembri - malta
Food safety has become a global issue as we are seeing foodborne diseases on the increase. This is partly due to globalization, as food is not limited to the indigenous area where it was produced. We can have foods that travel halfway around the world to reach us, so that we can have a variety of fruits, vegetables, meat and fish we never dreamt of having in our operations. With this great achievement comes a high risk of foodborne diseases spreading faster than ever before.
/ preparations make the food safe?” If one looses control, would it be possible to bring everything back under control?”
If one had to ask the question “How safe is you food?” to any food preparation operation it is more than probable that the answer would be “Safe, very safe”, but as we are living in a world in which one has to prove these statements, a natural second question would be “Can you prove it?” or “How did one calculate that?”. Questions that should be asked by every food operator when purchasing any products from suppliers.
Definitions
So what should one do to ensure that the products in the food operations are safe for further productions? It is becoming a trend by known celebrity chefs to grow their own vegetables and herbs, to liaison with farmers they trust for their meats, poultry and dairy products, but this is not always possible, as quantity might be a limiting factor and diversity would be limited to the climate and adaptability of the soil. Systems have been set up for food safety and results show that they are effective. Many studies have been carried out on the results that show that if food safety systems were not in place, we would be faced with bigger problems than we are facing today. HACCP has for a long time been adopted by various food safety systems, where questions are asked to ensure that each step of production is monitored to a stage that the produce and food products would be safe for further production. One would need to ask a simple question: “Could people become ill with this product?” “Will further treatment 52 World Association of Chefs Societies
HACCP never deals with quality issues but with safety of food, unless quality affects safety. One needs to ensure that the main priorities for safe food are in place and that safety is not sacrificed for quality, as the two are very different aspects.
Food Safety Assurance that food will not cause harm to consumers, when it is prepared or eaten according to its use. (FAO/ who; 1997) Food Quality The totality of features and characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. (180) Van Reevwijk, 1998) Knowing that the produce and other food products are coming from sources that have a regime of food safety systems and that all the necessary precautions and safety guards are in place, one can truly claim that the “Food is safe, very safe”. Paulino Schembri
has studied and graduated with the Federal Polytechnic of Lausanne in Switzerland under the direct tutorship of one of the most learned professors in the field of HACCP internationally and is currently reading for a Master’s Degree in Food Safety Management at the University of Lancashire. He has specialized in Codex Alimenarius and ISO 22000 as part of a food safety system. Paulino provides HACCP consultation for the food industry. He is also a certified chef with an Advanced Diploma in Culinary Arts from the City and Guilds of London Institute UK. He is a member of the WACS Education Committee and a WACS accredited culinary judge.