General food hygiene - the certificate training

Contamination of foodstuff
Contamination from physical things
Pebbles in rye bread, insects in muesli, eggshells in pastry, splinters of wood from utensils, hair,
kitchen cloths, cigarette buds and paper clips. A lot of people have experienced these kinds of
unpleasant surprises in the food. Everybody must be aware of traces of pests (mice and rats), for
example faeces on shelves and bite marks in foodstuff and packaging.
*3 Contamination from chemical substances
Most foodstuffs are being processed or prepared before it is eaten. We have been cooking, frying,
smoke curing and backing our foodstuff for millenniums, but new kinds of methods to process or
prepare food, as microwaving, radiation and high pressure treatment are also being developed.
Substances that can form during processing and preparation of foodstuff are frying mutagens and
acryl amide.
Unwanted substances can get into foodstuff from packaging and kitchen utensils, pesticides and
heavy metals. A chemical contamination can also arise when cleaning. It can arise from cleaning
and disinfection agents, which are not washed properly away from a table.
Natural toxic substances are usually found in sufficiently small amounts not to pose a health risk for
humans. But poisonous lectins are found in dry uncooked beans; however these are destroyed by
heat. Also solanine found in potatoes and histamine found in fish, are chemical poisons. Pregnant
women should restrain themselves from caffeine from coffee or coke and persons with high blood
pressure should not eat too much liquorice.
Contamination from microorganisms
Microorganisms are found everywhere. You can not avoid that some end up in the food, that the
food becomes microbiologically contaminated. Some of the bacteria are destroying and will make
to food go rotten and still others are useful, but the pathogenic bacteria can make humans ill. This
can happen if the microorganisms are present at a sufficient level in the food or if toxins have been
produced. The food does not go rotten by pathogenic bacteria. Thus often you will not be able to
see, smell or taste if pathogenic bacteria are present in the food.
***2 fotos
Tekst 1:
You must take as many precautions as you can to secure that these kinds of small things does not
end up in the food. Think about the contents of your pockets and keep an eye on the food
throughout the whole production.
Text 2:
Chemical contamination is not visible.
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