Hygiene Standards & Food Safety
Hygiene Standards and Food Safety in Hospitality Industry
Introduction
An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420 000 die every year,. These illnesses often result in a huge cost, both economic and social, as those affected experience loss of health or even life. As a source of illness that can be reduced though improved behaviors, many efforts by regulatory and educational institutions have been made towards the prevention of these illnesses. Many of these efforts focus on improving food safety behaviors in the populace with the aim of increasing the hurdles these bacteria or viruses must overcome to ultimately affect a consumer.
Foodborne illnesses are a matter of public health, as outbreaks can quickly affect a large group of people, and can be especially harmful to those who already have weaker immune systems such as residents of nursing community.
homes, hospitals or schools. Foodborne illnesses find their way into the populace through a number of avenues, including restaurants, grocery stores and the home itself. Despite the relatively commonplace nature of these illnesses, many consumers erroneously believe that foodborne illness comes almost exclusively from outside the home. On the contrary, the home can be a large source of foodborne illness and can even result in outbreaks of foodborne illness in the
Consumers get food safety information from a variety of sources, whether learned in the home, in an educational setting, from government agencies and through media. However, this knowledge has been shown to be fairly limited, and observational studies have shown poor practices of these food safety behaviors. Studies have shown that educational efforts in communities can increase knowledge of appropriate food safety behaviors.
Unfortunately, even when consumers have this knowledge, they may not change their behaviors to reflect this knowledge. People are habitual creatures and often times will choose to follow the practices they are familiar with rather than adopting safety recommendations. This makes it difficult to change behaviors in consumers to prevent foodborne illness.
Increased media exposure to food safety issues has been suggested as an avenue to increase consumer awareness and practices of food safety practices. One potential source of information for consumers is cooking shows. Although some studies have shown that cooking shows may not be overly influential in changing how or what people eat, they still may be able to influence food safety among their viewers.
Food Safety, Quality and Consumer Protection The terms food safety and food quality can sometimes be confusing.
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illnesses. This includes a number of routines
20 Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • March- April 2017