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.
 Theimportance 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
Bacterial diseases (infections & Typoid fever, paratyphoid fever,
intoxications) 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 diseases Viral hepatitis, Gastroenteritis

Parasites Taeniasis, Hydatidosis,

Trichinosis, Ascariasis,
Amoebiasis, Oxyuriasis
Chemical poisons Pesticides, heavy metals
(arsenic, lead, cadmium,
etc.)

Food toxins Lathyrism, Epidemic

dropsy, Aflatoxins
 Milkis 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.
 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

 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
 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 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.
 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.
 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
 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.
 Fishdeteriorates 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
 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 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.
 (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, fly-proof, 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 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 food-stuffs. (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 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.
 theprocess whereby nutrients are
added to foods to maintain or
improve the quality of the diet of a
group, a community or a population.
 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 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.