keeping food safe

•  Wash hands regularly, especially before preparing and eating food, and after handling raw foods, going to the toilet, touching waste etc.

• Avoid handling food if your unwell

• Cover cuts, sores and burns with a bandage or a blue plaster, and change these regularly

• Remove jewelry before handling food

• Avoid touching hair and tie long hair back.

• proper storage of food is important part of reducing the risk of food poisoning.

Keep fruit and vegetables in the salad drawer 

Raw meat, poultry and fish should be covered and kept on the bottom shelf, seprate from any ready to eat foods. 

• most pre packed foods carry either 'use by' or 'best before' date 

• This date mark appears on the labels of highly perishable foods. 
• These foods go off quickly and generally must be stored in the fridge or a freezer 
• The coldest part of the fridge should be no more than +5 degrees.  
• A freezer should be -18 degrees 

• This date marl generally appears on the lable of low risk foods that can be safely stored in the cupboard
• This date indicates how long the food will remain safe to eat after this date 
• The quality may be affected

• wash and dry hands throughly before handling food
• keep raw food and cooked food apart at all times
• ideally use separate chopping board for raw and cooked food 
• throughly wash root vegetables eg poatoes, leeks, carrots etc, as they often have traces of soil on them
• avoid preparing food for yourself or others if you are ill 
• always follow instructions carefully when defrosting and cooking pre-packed frozen foods
• always follow label  instructions and recipes for cooking times and temperatures
• cook all foods until piping hot 
• once they are cooked, keep foods covered and piping hot, above 63 degrees, until its time to eat them

• keep cold foods in the fridge until its time to eat
• reheat foods to a core temperature of 70 degrees for at least 2 minutes 
• do not reheat food more than once

Babies are at greater risk of illness than adults because their immune systems are less developed. 

• All equipment for feeding a young baby should be washed and sterilised, using steriling solution or a steam steriliser
• only cooled boil water should be added to baby foods, milk and other drinks
• foods should be cooked throughly until piping hot and cooled rapidly until comfertable to eat 
• eggs should be cooked until soild
• keep kitchen extra clean, especially the floor where they love to crawl
• wipe high chairs, bibs and eating area before and after every meal

Older people are more vulnerable to food poisoning. 

Extra care should be taken with hygiene and food preparation to minimise older people's risk of coming into contact with food poisoning bacteria

• pregnant women should not eat unpasteurised milk and cheese
• soft, mould ripend cheese
• raw or partically cooked fish of shellfish
• only eat eggs that have been cooked until both white and yolk is cooked
• if using ready made meals , they should ensure that meals are heated throughly- 70 degrees for at least 2 minutes- until pipping hot through out (no cold spots)

SYMPTOMS: 

• mild flu symptoms such as fever, muscle aches and sometimes nausea or diarrohea
• more serious complications such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, convulsions 
• Listeria is particularly dangerous in pregnancy as it can cause miscarriage, premature birth or sever illness to the baby when born

FOOD SOURCES:

• unpasteurised cheeses
• soft mo uld ripened cheeses
• uncooked meats 
• cold cuts of meat
• pates 
• ready meals and ready to eat foods eg pre-packed sandwiches 

METHOD OF CONTROL:

• throughly cook raw fiid from animal sources 
• throughly wash raw vegetables before eating
• keep uncooked meat serparate from cooked foods
• wash hands, knifes, chopping boards after handling uncooked foods
• pregnant women should reheat ready made foods until piping hot rather than eat them cold

SYMPTOMS: 

• fever 
• diarrohea
• vomiting 
• abdonomal pain

SYMPTOMS: 

• fever 
• diarrohea
• vomiting 
• abdonomal pain

FOOD SOURCES

• eggs 
• poultry 
• raw meat
• unpasteruised milk
• raw unwahed vegetables

METHOD OF CONTROL:

• pasteurisation
• keep raw food away from cooked food
• ensure food is piping hot at 63 degrees
• wash hands after handling food
• dont handle food if suffering from food poisoning 

SYMPTOMS

• fever
• vomiting
• diarrohoea 
• abdomianal pain
• ilness usally mild, last no more than 2 days

FOOD SOURCES:

• prepared sandwiches
• desserts
• cream products that are premade and require no cooking 

METHOD OF CONTROL:

• high standard of personal hygiene 
• ensure food is piping hot (70 degrees) and stored at 63 degrees
• keep food refrigerated
• dont prepare food if you have cuts on your hand

The order protects the consumer from poor hygeine and the risk of food poisoning. The law is enforced by the enviormental health officer 

This order makes it an offence to sell food that:

• is unfit for human consumption
• has been declared injurious to health 
• is fasely or misleadingly labelled or perented 
• is not of the nature,subatance of quality demanded by the consumer 

The order allows the EHO to:

• issue improvement notices
• inspect and seize suspect food 
• issue emergency prohibition notices and orders.