Food is very important to the existence of humans as it is the source of vitality (Violaris 2003). There are some people that prefer to eat outside their homes, usually in food service establishments like, canteens, restaurants, fast-food chains, etc. (Nyachuba 2010). It also appears like gone are the days when dining outside the home was strictly or majorly for memorable moments/events (Lahou et al 2011). This is trend is as a result of urbanisation, a rise in the number of women that are working, better transport networks or systems, (Coleman 2010) and probably the general believe that these meals will be more delicious and perfect compared to the meals prepared at home by non-professional chefs.
Human beings have prepared and cooked foods for several centuries by using what they learnt through observation and experience, and despite the fact that we were aware of the various hazards and dangers associated with food and their products, the comprehension of foodborne pathogens did not occur until the germ theory was substantiated about 150 years ago (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012).
1.2 FOOD HANDLING AND FOOD HANDLERS
Food handling refers to activities involving the handling of food preparation; production, cooking, collection, storage, packaging, serving, displaying etc. of food (Australia New Zealand Food Authority 2001). Food handler refers to persons that touch open food directly as a part of their job descriptions, either as an employee in a food business or and agency staff (Food Safety Authority 2009). Nevertheless the term also covers any individual that may touch food contact surfaces such as work tops, new food packaging, door-handles etc. which can contaminate hands of the people working directly with food (Food Safety Authority 2009).
The highest degree of risk is presented by biological hazards especially bacteria and viruses (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012). Foodborne disease outbreaks involving food service establishments can be linked with an array of pathogens, for example Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Staphylococcus aureus, Aeromonas spp. are often implicated in raw foods and sometimes occur in high numbers, more than 106 CFU/g, these pathogens are sometimes carried by humans that are not showing any symptoms of illness (European Food Safety Authority 2009, 2011, Lawley et al 2008).
According to Worsford et al 2003, 97% of foodborne illnesses linked to food service establishments are caused by breaches from food handlers.
Every food service establishment needs a food safety system such as HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) and SOP (standard operating procedures), such systems demands that every involved ensures the effectiveness of scheme put in place to guarantee that the final product to be consumed is not a risk to well-being, because everything that is done in food service establishment is important to public health (Paster 2012).
Allergens are as hazardous as foodborne illness, however this can be managed by reducing food contact and if possible just one employee should handle one customer's order Paster 2012).
Paster 2012 stated that one in three individuals do not wash hands after using restrooms, however the use of gloves could help prevent faecal-(hand)-oral route of contamination.
Different colours of gloves, cloths and containers for different tasks can be used to distinguish food-handling tasks or contact surfaces from non-food-handling ones, (Paster 2012).
Cross contamination can occur at the point of sampling food; this can be prevented by not eating around the work areas and use of single-use utensils and washing hands appropriately before returning to the work area (Paster 2012).
Potentially hazardous food (PHF) is food that permits or encourages the growth of pathogens or formation of toxins, this usually due their intrinsic nature (high water activity, high pH, high protein level etc.) these food are the most likely to cause foodborne illness outbreaks and therefore need to be temperature controlled to make sure they are safe for consumption, examples of PHFs are sliced tomatoes, sliced melons, salads, meats, fish, milk and milk products and so on (Paster 2012).
For food to be very safe it must not stay in the temperature danger zone (5°C - 57.2°C) for more than four hours because microorganisms multiply rapidly in this temperature range (Paster 2012).
So as to protect consumers from food related hazards, food service businesses and establishments are required to adhere to food safety regulations usually put in place in most countries by national and/or local authorities (Lawley et al 2008).
Several Bacillus food poisoning outbreaks are linked with temperature abused cooked food or food stored in conditions optimal for rapid growth and multiplication of the pathogen (Lawley et al 2008).
Foodborne illnesses reiterates partly due to lack of steady application of knowledge and experience gleaned from past occurrences (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012).
Very soon food safety and control of hazards related to food will become very important because according to the UNs predictions world population will reach 10 billion (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012) and this will definitely call for or demand more efforts for all parties involved in ensuring food safety in every part of the world.
Lately there has been a rise in feeding on fresh-cut produce and leafy greens like, lettuce, spinach, celery, and these group of produce are often eaten raw without any cooking or processing and this led to government, regulatory bodies and industry setting standards and regulations or guidelines to check the incidence of foodborne illnesses associated with these products (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012).
Cross-contamination from fresh/raw food products such as meat and poultry products with pathogens and ready-to-eat foods can be prevented by keeping them far apart (Oyarzabal, Backert 2012).
The catering sector of food service is especially very prone to food safety occurrences, this is attributed to the its characteristics such as variety of raw materials being used, large number of employees carrying out different tasks at the same time, with a short period and in a confined space and also a high demand on production (Mortimore et al. 2001)
The skill base in a lot of small and medium enterprises is very low (Mortimore et al. 2001)
Any creditable food business operator would maintain good manufacturing practices (GMP) or good hygiene practices (GHP) to make sure that final product for consumption is safe (Mortimore et al. 2001)
The location of the food handling facility is very important, and good hygienic design should be use and basic hygienic facilities should be made available (Mortimore et al. 2001)
Jewellery and other adornments should not be allowed in the work area because they are potential contaminants; biological indirectly or physical directly and also visitors to the food handling area should be made to conform with the laid down guidelines for hygiene around the work area (Mortimore et al. 2001)
In U.S. and Australia 25% of the populations are affected by foodborne illness annually and this is mostly due to improper food-handling routines (Food safety Information Council 2009, Raab, Woodburn 1997).
There has been a consistent rise in the last twenty years in the occurrence of foodborne diseases all over the world and as a reason of these consequences reducing occurrences of foodborne illnesses should be given high antecedence by the government, food industry or business sector and also individuals. (Brennan et al. 2007, Griffith et al. 1995, Raab et al. 1997).
According to the surveillance systems at the Centres for Disease Control and prevention about 1,329 foodborne diseases outbreaks are recorded every year (Lynch et al. 2006).
Around 20% food illness outbreaks are caused by microorganisms transferred to food by the handlers (Lynch et al. 2006).
Most (46%) of the outbreaks that are linked to food handlers or employees happened in food service facilities (Todd et al. 2008). Poor food handling routines have been found to be responsible for 97% of foodborne illnesses related to food service establishments (Griffith 2000, Farber et al. 2xxx)
Green et al. 2005, discovered in the survey they carried out that about 5% of the food workers questioned disclosed that they worked even when they experienced vomiting and diarrhoea the past year.
Patil et al. 2005 found that males are more probable to be involved in improper food handling practices than their female counterparts.
Absence of sick-leave with pay for employees (Patil et al. 2004, Food Standards Agency 2009). Absence of back up employees that can take over in case of unavailability of an employee, inadequate staff, size or capacity of business (Sumner et al. 2011).
A percentage of employees could spread infectious germs before on-set of symptoms of illness as an asymptomatic carrier or after the illness in the recovery or convalescent stage (Todd et al. 2008
In prior studies carried out, it was shown that training of food employees (handlers) can be efficacious, notwithstanding training must be continuous and frequent to conquer the unwillingness of food handlers to put into use the knowledge gained (Buccheri et al. 2010, Santana et al. 2009, Veiros et al. 2009, Furnari et al. 2002).
The common trend noted in the study carried out in long term care facilities by Rodriguez et al. 2011 was that food handlers did not wear gloves habitually and hand washing was done improperly sometimes. Transfer of infectious pathogens to surfaces can occur due to these improper ethics and these pathogens can be subsequently transmitted along the food chain (Kusumaningrum et al. 2003).
Hand hygiene is very important during food preparation processes, because hand hygiene has been found to be highly rated amidst the risk factors pinpointed while investigating outbreaks, however, appropriate hand washing and drying has been proven to be an adequate way of sanitising (Michaels 2002, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention 2006).
Previous studies have shown that hands can be easily contaminated during food preparation process due to cross contamination from raw foods or contaminated surfaces, microorganisms are usually present in high numbers on the hands and can be transmitted with ease to foods and surfaces or utensils that will touch food, because the human body sheds living pathogens at 1 x 103 to 1 x 104 CFU/min (Frazier, Westoff 1998), these pathogens also have the capacity to survive for a lengthy period of time. (Todd et al. 2008a, 2008b, 2009).
Utensils, food shields, deli papers, sneeze guards etc. have been used to prevent or reduce food contamination for a while but it has not been proven beyond doubt that they are very effective therefore use of several hurdles is advised (Todd et al. 2010).
Contact from bare hands, insufficient washing of appliances used for food preparation and handling of food by unhealthy/asymptomatic individuals were identified as some of the most vital factors in the report of foodborne disease outbreaks between 1998 and 2002 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2006). Another factor probably more important or as important as contact from bare hands is temperature abuse of food i.e. keeping food outside temperature range that it ideal for that particular type of food (Ewen et al. 2010). A similar result was observed in an environmental evaluation carried out in restaurants in which outbreaks took place and others where no outbreaks took place, that handling of food (65%) by unhealthy individuals and contact with food by unclad hands (35%) are generally the routines observed that could cause transfer of pathogens.
FOOD HANDLING GUIDELINES AND REGULATIONS FOR CATERING SECTOR OF FOOD BUSINESSES
The following are summaries of various rules, guidelines, regulations or code of conduct. These guidelines of interest as regards this piece of work for the EU are covered in Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and Regulation (EC) 853/2004. These recommendations or instructions should be adhered to by all food services institutions, both large scale and small scale (Food Standards Agency 2009).
Food handlers
No individual sick or being an asymptomatic carrier of a kind of illness or ailment(open sores or infections) that can be transferred through food should be allowed access into the work are i.e. food handling area.
All food business employees that will have direct or indirect contact with food (food handlers) should bring any episodes of symptoms of ailments to the notice of their superiors immediately, for example, bowel movements of loose stools thrice or more within 24 hours. And such employees must immediately be relieved of their food handling tasks and areas till 48 hours afters symptoms have subsided.
Vomiting and diarrhoea are the major symptoms to look out for because there is a high number of microorganisms and it's very easy for these pathogens to spread, hand contamination and subsequent cross contamination to other food contact surfaces is very high.
Legally, high level of personal cleanliness and sanitation, appropriate clothing (hair coverings), jewellery should not be worn with the exception of wedding bands. Gloves are as prone to contamination as hands, and therefore even when new should be sanitized like hands. They must avoid contact with nose, mouth, face, ear and hair as much as possible and proper hand washing and drying routines is demanded of food handlers (FSA 1 n 2)
Managers or Supervisors
Managers are advised although not mandated by law to carry out a form of investigation to the health (past and present) of prospective employee during recruitment; this can help to give an overview of the individual's status and also to pass a message of how important personal sanitation and wellbeing of food handlers is to safety of food.
Periodically, hand swabs can be taken from employees to determine microbial load and this can be used to judge personal sanitation routines of food handlers. This can also be used to decipher the type or magnitude of training needed and any other actions.
Hand washing facilities, suitable number of modern toilets with proper drainage system must be present on site, and these toilets should not open directly to food handling areas (FSA 2). Hand sanitizers i.e. anti-bacterial gels should also be provided in addition to other hand sanitation facilities and liquid soap is more ideal for cleaning dirt from hands.
Managers should take extra caution with employees returning or just arriving from other countries because some illnesses and infections are more common in other countries especially less developed countries that rarely occur in the UK.
Site and food processing and or preparation areas
Proper storage facilities for handling and storage of food should be provided and these facilities must be at the required temperatures and monitoring devices where applicable (FSA 2).
Floors should have surfaces made with materials that are easy to sanitise and disinfect; also permit suitable drainage, windows and other overtures should be such that can inhibit entry of dirt into the food handling area, all cleaning facilities should be easy to clean and made of corrosion-resistant materials and also have a steady flow or supply of portable water.
Containers used to transport food must be used just for food and nothing else to prevent cross contamination and they should be rightly labelled in English and/or any other European language, these vehicles or containers where applicable must be able to keep food at the appropriate temperature and have the facility that allows monitoring of the temperature
All appliances must be thoroughly sanitised regularly to prevent contamination should be made of the right type of materials and also have temperature sensor where applicable (FSA 2)
Waste disposal should be done properly and promptly (FSA 2)
Some foods depend solely on temperature control for their safety, cold, hot and reheated food should be held at 8°C, 63°C and 82°C respectively such foods should not be held outside the temperature range for more than 4 hours if above the required temperature and 2 hours if below. Defrosting should be done in a way and at a temperature that would decrease the chances of growth of pathogens or formation of toxins. Packaging materials should be stored properly so that they are not sources of contamination to food. Raw food must always be kept separately from ready-to-eat foods.
