Food hygiene

Food is a potential source of infection and is

liable to contamination by microorganisms,

at any point during its journey from the
producer to the consumer. Food hygiene, in
its widest sense, implies hygiene in the
production, handling, distribution and
serving of all types of food. The primary aim
of food hygiene is to prevent food poisoning
and other food-borne illnesses, which can be
grouped under the following headings.

 The importance of surveillance of

food-borne diseases has been

underlined in the WHO Sixth General
Program of Work . The most
important international program
carrying out activities in the field of
food hygiene is the Joint FAO/WHO
food Standards Program

Classification
of
Food

borne
Illnesses
Bacterial diseases (infections &
Typoid fever, paratyphoid fever,
intoxications)

Viral diseases

Parasites

Salmonellosis, Staphyloccal
intoxication,
Cl. perfringens illness Botulism
b. cereus Food Poisoning
e. coli diarrhoea
non-cholera vibrio illness
V. parahaemolyticus - infection,
streptococcal infection,
Shigellosis, Brucellosis
Viral hepatitis, Gastroenteritis

Taeniasis, Hydatidosis,
Trichinosis, Ascariasis,
Amoebiasis, Oxyuriasis

Classification of Food borne Illnesses

Chemical poisons

Pesticides, heavy metals

(arsenic, lead, cadmium,
etc.)

Food toxins

Lathyrism, Epidemic
dropsy, Aflatoxins

Milk Hygiene
Milk is an efficient vehicle for a great

variety of disease agents: The

sources of infection or contamination
of milk may be (1) The dairy animal
(2) human handler or (3) the
environment, e.g., contaminated
vessels, polluted water, flies, dust,
etc.

Milkborne Diseases

A joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on milk hygiene

classified milk -born diseases:
1. Infections of animals that can be transmitted to man:
Primary importance
Tuberculosis
Brucellosis
Streptococcal infections
Staphylococcal enterotoxin poisoning
Salmonellosis
Q Fever

Milk born diseases

Lesser importance
Cowpox

Foot and mouth disease

Anthrax

Leptospirosis

Tick-borne encephalitis

Infections primary to man tat can be transmitted through

milk:
Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers
Shigellosis
Cholera
Enteropathogenic Escherichi coli
Non-diarrhoeal diseases
Streptococcal infections
Staphylococcal food poisoning
Diphtheria
Tuberculosis
Enteroviruses
Viral hepatitis

Clean and Safe Milk

The safety and keeping quality of milk are

related to its microbial content. The first
essential in the production of clean and safe
milk, therefore, is a healthy and clean animal.
Milk from a healthy udder contains only a few
organisms, and these are relatively
unimportant. Secondly, the premises where
the animal is housed and milked should be
sanitary. The milk vessels must be sterile and
kept covered. The water supply must be
bacteriologicaly safe.

 Milk handler must be free from

communicable diseases, and before milking

they must wash their hands and arms.
Where possible, milking machines must be
used. Milk should be cooled immediately to
below 10C after it is drawn to retard
bacterial growth. In the production of good
quality milk, cleanliness of all containers and
equipment in which milk is handled is very
important.

Pasteurization of milk
Pasteurization may be defined as the

heating of milk to such temperatures and

for such periods of time as are required
to destroy any pathogens that may be
present while causing minimal changes
in the composition, flavor and nutritive
value (WHO). There are several methods
of pasteurization.
Milk is kept at 63-66C for at least 30
minutes, and then quickly cooled to 5C.

 High Temperature and Short Time Method

Milk is rapidly heated to a temperature of

nearly 72C, is held at that temperature for not
less than 15 seconds, and is then rapidly cooled
to 4C. This is now the most widely method.
Very large quantities of milk per hour can be
pasteurized by this method. (3) UHT Method:
Also known as Utra High Temperature
Method. Milk is rapidly heated usually in 2
stages (the second stage usually being under
pressure) to between 125C, for a few seconds
only. It is then rapidly cooled and bottled as
quickly as possible.

MEAT HYGIENE

The term meat includes various

tissues of animal origin. The
diseases which may be transmitted
by eating unwholesome meat are: (1)
TAPE WORM INFESTATIONS: Tinea
soliu, T. saginata, Trichinella spiralis
and anthrax, actinomycosis,
tuberculosis and food poisoning.

Meat Inspection
Animals intended for slaughter are subjected to proper

antemortem and postmortem inspection by qualified

veterinary staff. The principal causes of antemortem
rejection of animals are emaciation, exhaustion, pregnancy,
sheep-pox, foot-rot, actinomycosis, brucellosis, febrile
conditions, diarrhoea and other diseases of an infectious
nature rendering meat unfit for human consumption. The
main causes of the postmortem rejection are cysticercus
bovis, liver fluke, abscesses, sarcocystis, hydatidosis,
septicaemia, parasitic and nodular infections of liver and
lungs, tuberculosis, cysticercus cellulosae, etc(112). The
characteristics of good meat are that it should be neither
pale pink nor a deep purple tint, firm and elastic to touch,
should not be slimy and have an agreeable

Slaughter Houses
Location: Preferably away from residential areas.
Structure: Floors and walls up to 3 feet should be impervious and
easy to clean.
Disposal of wastes: Blood, offal, etc should not be discharged into
public sewers but should be collected separately.
Water Supply: should be independent, adequate and continuous.
Examination of animals: Antemortem and postmortem examination
to be arranged. Animals or meat found unfit for human
consumption should be destroyed or denatured.
Miscellaneous: animals other than those to be slaughtered should
not be allowed inside the shed.
Storage of meat: Meat should be stored in fly-proof and rat-proof
rooms; for overnight storage, the temperature of the room shall be
maintained below 5C. 8) Transportation of meat: Meat shall be
transported in fly-proof covered vans.

Fish
Fish deteriorates or loses its freshness

because of autolysis which sets in after

death and because of the bacteria with
which they become infected. Stale fish
should be condemned. The signs of
fresh fish: 1) it is in a state of stiffness
or rigor mortis, 2) the gills are a bright
red and 3) the eyes are clear and
prominent

EGG

Although the majority of freshly

laid eggs are sterile inside, the shells
become contaminated by faecal
matter from the hen.
Microorganisms including pathogenic
Salmonella can penetrate a cracked
shell and enter the egg(48).

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

Fruits and vegetables constitute another important
source for the spread of pathogenic organisms,
protozoan and helminthes. These infections are a
serious menace to public health where sewage is
used for growing vegetables. The vegetables
which are consumed raw in the form of salads
pose a problem in food sanitation. People should
be educated to wash the vegetables before eating
then raw. Vegetables which are cooked and eaten
are free from this danger.

SANITATION OF EATING PLACES

(1) Location: Shall not be near filth or open drain,

stable, manure pit and other sources of nuisances.

(2) Floors: To be higher than the adjoining land,
made with impervious material and easy to keep
clean. (
3) Rooms: (a) Rooms where meals are served
shall not be less than 100 sq. feet and shall provide
accommodation for a maximum of 10 persons. (b)
Walls up to 3 feet should be smooth, corners to be
rounded; should be impervious and easily
washable. (

 c) Lighting and ventilation ample natural lighting facilities

aided by artificial lighting with good circulation of air are

necessary. (4) Kitchen: (a) Floor space minimum 60 sq. ft.
(b) window opening to be 25 percent of floor area. (c)
Floor to be impervious, smooth, easy to keep clean and
non-slippery. (d) Doors and windows to be rat-proof, flyproof, and of the self-closing type. (e) Ventilators 2 percent
of the floor area, in addition to smoke pipes. (5) Storage of
cooked food: Separate room to be provided. For long
storage, control of temperature is necessary. (6) Storage of
uncooked foodstuffs. Perishable and non-perishable articles
to be kept separately in rat-proof and vermin-proof space;
for storage of perishable articles temperature control
should be adopted.

 ) Furniture: Should be reasonably strong and

easy to keep clean and dry. (8) Disposal of
refuse: To be collected in covered,
impervious bins and disposed of twice a day.
(9) Water supply: To be an independent
source, adequate, continuous and safe. (10)
Washing facilities: To be provided. Cleaning
of utensils and crockery to be done in hot
water and followed by disinfection.

Food Handlers
Food sanitation rests directly upon the state of

personal hygiene and habits of the personnel

working in the food establishments. Proper
handling of foods, utensils and dishes together
with emphasis upon the necessity for good
personal hygiene are of great importance. The
infections which are likely to be transmitted by
the food handlers are diarrheas, dysenteries,
typhoid and para-typhoid fevers, entero-viruses,
viral hepatitis, protozoa cysts, eggs of
helminthes, strepto and staphylococcal infections
and salmonellosis.

 The first essential is to have a complete medical

examination carried out of all food handlers at the

time of employment. Any person with a history of
typhoid fever, diphtheria, chronic dysentery,
tuberculosis or any other communicable disease
should not be employed. Persons with wounds, otitis
media or skin infections should not be permitted to
handle food or utensils. The day to day health
appraisal of the food handlers is also equally
important; those who are ill should be excluded from
food handling. It is also important that any illness
which occurs in a food handler's family should at once
be notified.

 Education of food handlers in matters of personal hygiene,

food handling, utensils, dishwashing, and insect and rodent

control is the best means of promoting food hygiene. Many of
the food handlers have little educational background. Certain
aspects of personal hygiene are therefore required to be
continually impressed upon then: (a) Hands: The hands
should be clean at all times. Hands should be scrubbed and
washed with soap and water immediately after visiting a
lavatory and as often as necessary at other times. Fingernails
should be kept trimmed and free from dirt. (b) Hair: Head
covering should be provided particularly in the case of
females to prevent loose hair obtaining entrance to foodstuffs. (c) Overalls: Clean white overalls should be worn by
all food handlers. (d) Habits: Coughing and sneezing in the
vicinity of food, licking the fingers before picking up an article
of food, smoking on food premises are to be avoided.

ADULTERATION OF FOODS
Adulteration of foods consists of a large

number of practices - mixing substitution,

abstraction, concealing the quality, putting up
decomposed foods for sale, misbranding or
giving labels and addition of poisons. Some
forms of adulteration are injurious to health,
eg., adulteration of mustard oil with argemone
oil. But for the most part food adulteration
has an economic rather than a sanitary
significance eg., addition of water to milk.

FOOD FORTIFICATION
the process whereby nutrients are

added to foods to maintain or

improve the quality of the diet of a
group, a community or a population.

FOOD ADDITIVES

The concept of adding non-food substances to

food products is not new. Pickling is an ancient
culinary practice aimed at preserving food articles
such as mango, lime and amla for fairly long
periods by the addition of salt and spices. Modern
science of food technology employs more than
3,000 substances some natural (eg., saffron,
turmeric) and others artificial or synthetic (eg.,
saccharin, sorbic acid) known as food additives.
Majority of the processed foods such as bread,
biscuits, cakes, sweets, confectionary, jams, jellies,
soft drinks, ketchup, all contain food additives.

FOOD ADDITIVES
Food additives are defined as non-nutritious substances

which are added intentionally to food, generally in small

quantity, to improve its appearance, flavour, texture or
storage properties(116). The definition also includes animal
food adjuncts which may result in residues in human food
and components of packing materials which may find their
way into food(117).
The food additives may be classified as colouring
agents (eg., saffron, turmeric), flavouring agents (eg.,
vanilla essence), sweeteners (eg., saccarin), preservatives
(eg., sorbic acid, sodium benzoate), bleaching agents (eg.,
chlorine) acidity imparting agents (eg., citric acid acetic
acid), etc..(115). Uncontrolled or indiscriminate use of food
additives may pose health hazards among consumers.