Food Safety

Food Safety refers to handling, preparing and storing food in a way to best reduce the risk individuals becoming sick from foodborne illnesses. Antibiotic resistance in foodborne bacteria is a growing food safety challenge that is made worse by overuse of antibiotics in people and food animals. Cooked foods should not be left to sit in room temperature for longer than two hours. These foods should be cooled rapidly and kept refrigerated, preferably at a temperature under 5°C. Microorganisms can reproduce very rapidly at room temperature. Food can become contaminated at any point of production and distribution, and the primary responsibility lies with food producers. The basis of the food-safety system to be adopted in the food industry consists of a combination of good manufacturing practices (GMP), sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP), and a hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system.