The following
are some common terms associated with combatting foodborne
illness:
Bacteria:
Living
single-celled organisms. They can be carried by water, wind,
insects, plants, animals and people. Bacteria survive well on skin
and clothes and in human hair. They also thrive in scabs, scars, the
mouth, nose, throat, intestines and room-temperature
foods.
Biological hazard:
Refers to the
danger of food contamination by disease-causing microorganisms
(bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi) and their toxins and by
certain plants and fish that carry natural
toxins.
Cleaning
The removal of visible soil
and debris.
Contamination:
The unintended
presence of potentially harmful substances, including microorganisms
in food.
Cross-contamination:
The transfer
of harmful substances or disease-causing microorganisms to food by
hands, food-contact surfaces, sponges, cloth towels and utensils
that touch raw food, are not cleaned, and then touch ready-to-eat
foods. Cross-contamination can also occur when raw food touches or
drips onto cooked or ready-to-eat foods.
Foodborne
illness:
A disease that is carried or transmitted to
humans by food containing harmful substances. Examples are the
disease salmonellosis, which is caused by Salmonella bacteria and
the disease botulism, which is caused by the toxin produced by the
bacteria Clostridium botulinum.
Food contact surface:
Any equipment or utensil which normally comes in contact
with food or which may drain, drip or splash on food or on surfaces
normally in contact with food. Examples: cutting boards, knives,
sponges, countertops and colanders.
Fungi:
A group of microorganisms that includes molds and
yeasts.
HACCP Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Points
HACCP (pronounced hassip) is a system
originally designed by NASA for monitoring food production. HACCP
involves seven principles:
- Analyze hazards. Potential hazards associated with a
food and measures to control those hazards are identified. The
hazard could be biological, such as a microbe; chemical, such as a
toxin; or physical, such as ground glass or metal fragments.
- Identify critical control points. These are points in a
food’s production–from its raw state through processing and
shipping to consumption by the consumer–at which the potential
hazard can be controlled or eliminated. Examples are cooking,
cooling, packaging, and metal detection.
- Establish preventive measures with critical limits for each
control point. For a cooked food, for example, this might
include setting the minimum cooking temperature and time required
to ensure the elimination of any harmful microbes.
- Establish procedures to monitor the critical control
points. Such procedures might include determining how and by
whom cooking time and temperature should be monitored.
- Establish corrective actions to be taken when monitoring
shows that a critical limit has not been met–for example,
reprocessing or disposing of food if the minimum cooking
temperature is not met.
- Establish procedures to verify that the system is working
properly–for example, testing time-and-temperature recording
devices to verify that a cooking unit is working properly.
- Establish effective recordkeeping to document the HACCP
system. This would include records of hazards and their
control methods, the monitoring of safety requirements and action
taken to correct potential problems. Each of these principles must
be backed by sound scientific knowledge: for example, published
microbiological studies on time and temperature factors for
controlling foodborne pathogens.
Incidence:
The number of new cases of
foodborne illness in a given population during a specified period of
time (e.g., the number of new cases per 100,000 population per
year).
Microorganism:
A small life form,
only seen through a microscope, that may cause disease. Examples:
bacteria, fungi, parasites or
viruses.
Outbreak:
An incident in which two
or more people experience the same illness after eating the same
food.
Parasite:
A microorganism that needs
a host to survive. Examples: Cryptosporidium,
Toxoplasma.
Pathogen:
A microorganism that
is infectious and causes
disease.
Sanitizing
The removal of disease
causing bacteria.
Spore:
A thick-walled
protective structure produced by certain bacteria and fungi to
protect their cells. Spores often survive cooking, freezing and some
sanitizing measures.
Toxins:
Poisons that
are produced by microorganisms, carried by fish or released by
plants. Examples: Botulism caused by the toxin from Clostridium
botulinum, scombroid poisoning from the naturally occurring
scombroid toxin in some improperly refrigerated fish, such as
mackerel and tuna.
Virus:
A protein-wrapped
genetic material which is the smallest and simplest life-form known.
Example: Norwalk virus, hepatitis
A.
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