During the epidemic, in addition to external protection, food safety is also the top priority of protection. Before food enters people’s mouths, it takes several steps to get it from farms or fishing grounds to the table. We call it the food production chain. In the process of production, processing, distribution or cooking, pollution may occur.
Food production
Production refers to the process of planting crops or raising animals for food. It is usually carried out on farms or pastures, and some foods are captured or harvested from the wild, such as some fish, mushrooms and game.
Examples of pollution in production:
1. If the hen’s feed is infected or infected by some zoonotic diseases, the eggs and chicken produced in this way may be contaminated, resulting in food safety problems.
2. If the farmland is irrigated with polluted water, the fruits and vegetables will be polluted before harvesting.
3. Some fish growing in water may get toxins or accumulate some harmful substances from the small marine organisms they eat. For example, some fish living in water polluted by mercury will be rich in methylmercury, which will cause food safety problems.
Food processing
Processing refers to the process of turning crops or animals into food forms that we know and buy through machinery or labor according to the technological process. The processing technology of different kinds of food will be different. For some agricultural products, the processing process includes cleaning, cutting, crushing, baking and other steps, such as fresh vegetables, flour, steamed bread, bread and so on. Some agricultural products and milk are usually pasteurized and processed into fruit juice, vegetable juice and canned or bagged milk. Nuts can be roasted, chopped, or ground (for example, with peanut butter). For animals, the first step in processing is slaughter. Then, it can be cut into pieces or broken, smoked, cooked or frozen, or mixed with other ingredients to make sausages or main dishes, such as meat pies.
Examples of pollution in processing:
1. If the food is washed with contaminated water or packaged with contaminated packaging materials during processing, the pollution will spread to these foods, resulting in food safety problems.
2. In the slaughter process, if there are a large number of harmful microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the environment and slaughter tools, it will cause microbial pollution of meat products and food safety problems.
3. If bacteria contaminate the surfaces used for food processing, such as processing lines or storage boxes, the bacteria will spread to the foods that come into contact with these surfaces.
Food distribution
Distribution refers to the process of sending food from farms or processing plants to consumers, or to restaurants, cafeterias or hospital kitchens and other catering institutions. For example, pork, beef and chicken are transported from meat processing plants to supermarkets, food stores and so on.
Examples of pollution in distribution:
1. If the food that should be refrigerated is stored in a high temperature environment for a long time, it may produce bacteria and cause corruption.
2. If fresh agricultural products are loaded on unwashed trucks, these products will be polluted.
cook
Cooking refers to a way to finish the final processing of food, and it is the process of turning it into food that can be eaten directly. This step may occur in a restaurant, a family or a company canteen.
Examples of pollution in cooking:
1. If an employee involved in cooking is still working during his illness, or fails to wash his hands carefully after going to the toilet, he may spread bacteria through contact with food.
2. If a chef cuts raw chicken with a chopping board or a knife, and then cuts raw tomatoes and other vegetables or sauced beef with the same knife or chopping board without cleaning, it may pollute the bacteria in chicken, such as pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli or Salmonella.
3. The food eaten raw in the refrigerator may be contaminated with bacteria due to improper storage.
Food safety problems can occur in all aspects of food production, processing, storage, transportation and sales. To ensure food safety, we must manage it in the whole process of food production, which is what we often call "food safety management from field to table".
This article is scientifically checked by Huang Kunlun, a professor from College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University.
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