High risk Foods - Home Economics

High Risk Foods:

When a busy schedule is the order of the day, what you eat and where it came from might not always seem too important. However, this should rapidly change. After all, each item of food demands different handling methods in order to ensure customers receive safe food. Ultimately, high risk foods need your unwavering attention to keep people, and restaurants prospects, safe and secure. 

What are High risk foods?

High risk foods share a tendency to spoil as a result of unsuitable storage conditions or improper cooking methods. Meat, fish, gravy, sauce, shellfish, dairy products, pasta and even cooked rice are all examples, and the smallest errors can lead to contamination. Consequently, basic mistakes in handling common produce can negatively impact on anyone. 

A variety of harmful bacteria can manifest depending on the hygiene of high risk food and of those preparing it. The illnesses that bacteria cause vary in cause and duration:

• Salmonella. Contamination and undercooking generally causes this common type of food poisoning.
• Campylobacter. This is the most common cause of food poisoning, largely due to under-cooked poultry. 
• Escherichia coli (E Coil). E Coil causes potentially fatal harm to the elderly and young children. You can prevent this from cooking meats thoroughly. 
• Listeria. This type of bacteria is present in raw milk (and anything made from it) and processed meats. Listeriosis is a huge risk because it can even counter the cold temperatures of a refrigerator. Only thoroughly cooking can destroy this.
• Clostridium Prefringes. Causing nearly one million illnesses each year, the most common origin of this bacteria is large quantities of meals that are warmed for an extended period of time before serving. Companies and institutions are usually that responsible parties due to feeding many people at once. 

Who is Most at Risk?

Many of these might seem like relatively low health risks, due to our bodies immure systems often been capable of com-batting such ailments. However, when the germ spreads to the more vulnerable who do not have a fully fictional or developed immune system, things can get more serious very quickly. Children, pregnant woman, elderly people, and those with pre-existing conditions call all be particularly susceptible to these sicknesses. In due course, food poisoning can even become fatal, meaning that high risk foods mus the handled with consistent care without fault.

Where should high risk food be stored?
Contamination is not always evident by your sense of sight, smell or sometimes even taste. Therefore, you can only avoid contamination with high risk foods by storing them correctly. bacteria thrive on protein, moisture, warmth and a good dose of time in order to multiply. Subsequently, low temperatures become the only viable solution, slowing down the time bacteria need to grow in number. 
Your fridges and freezers are therefore essential, as they quite literally freeze the spread of germs. 

Ways you can store high risk food properly and safely include:

• Keeping refrigerated produce below 5 degrees Celsius.  This ensures they are below the designated 'danger zone', in which bacteria can form and fester in ever-expanding numbers. 
• Storing frozen foods at -18 degrees. unless you need to thaw it. If so, you should transfer it to the fridge before prompt consumption. 
• Sealing refrigerated items properly. To preserve nutritional value, texture quality and flavour, as well as prevent cross contamination.
• Storing raw and cooked foods separately from one another to minimise any further likelihood of cross contamination. 
• Acquiring all produce from a reliable supplier. Refrigerated and insulated vehicles are a good idea for those wanting to haul their produce cross country, so check to see if your suppliers use these.