User:Eshika Sehgal/Sandbox

INTRODUCTION
Food hygiene are the conditions and measures necessary to ensure the safety of food from production to consumption. Food can become contaminated at any point during slaughtering or harvesting, processing, storage, distribution, transportation and preparation. Lack of adequate food hygiene can lead to foodborne diseases and death of the consumer. Food Hygiene can be defined as "the safe handling of food in a way that will keep it safe and free from all contaminants".

FOOD SAFETY
Food safety refers to limiting the presence of those hazards whether chronic or acute, that may make food injurious to the health of the consumer. Food safety is about producing, handling, storing and preparing food in such a way as to prevent infection and contamination in the food production chain, and to help ensure that food quality and wholesomeness are maintained to promote good health.

HOW IS FOOD QUALITY BE EVALUATED?
Traditionally, qualities of foods are evaluated by our sensory organs – our eyes, nose or mouth or, more recently, by the use of instruments. Sensory evaluation is commonly practised by food regulatory authorities which consists of judging the quality of food by a panel of judges. The evaluation deals with measuring, evaluating, analyzing and interpreting the qualities of food as they are perceived by the senses of sight, taste, touch and hearing.

Careful sampling of the food is necessary for sensory evaluation. It is not always possible to detect with sensory methods alone the contamination of food by pesticides, veterinary drug residues and adulteration. Objective evaluation is done which includes chemical, physiochemical, microbial and physical methods of analysis. Chemical methods include the determination of nutritive value of foods before and after cooking, and to detect the products of decomposition and adulterants in foods. The most widely employed objective evaluation is the measurement of physical properties by the use of instruments.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SAFETY OF FOOD AT HOME
Safety of food is a result of all the following factors put together. Any short coming in the functioning of one will have a direct influence on all other factors.

A. Cleanliness in the kitchen B. Hygienic Handling of food C. Personal Hygiene

CLEANLINESS IN KITCHEN
1. Sanitize your rubbish bin. Wash and disinfect it once a week. This will remove any foul smells, which might be emanating from the trash bin, as well as stopping any bacterial growth. Obtain a lid for the bin, if possible. A lid holds odors in that attract flies and other insects.

2. Wash surfaces people touch. Periodically wipe doorknobs, handles, buttons and controls, and light switches in and around your kitchen with cleaning agents. Even if they seem clean to the naked eye, they may already be harboring bacteria.

3. Keep kitchen floors clean. Sweep and mop regularly to keep it free from debris and grease. Mop spills right away instead of letting the mess stay there.Immediate mopping prevents unwanted accidents and avoids breeding grounds.

4.Maintain personal hygiene. Wash your hands before and after handing food, 20 seconds each time.

HYGIENIC HANDLING OF FOOD
Each food handler must take all precautions to ensure that food or surfaces that come in contact with food are not contaminated by his or her body or anything he or she is wearing. This includes hair, saliva, mucus, sweat, blood, fingernails, clothes, jewellery or bandages.

1. Avoid handling ready-to-eat food such as salads and cooked food use tongs or other implements instead.

2. Wear clean outer clothing.

3. Make sure bandages and dressings on exposed parts of your body (such as the hands, arms or face) are covered with waterproof coverings.

4. Not eat over uncovered food or equipment and utensils.

5. Not sneeze, blow or cough over uncovered food or equipment and utensils.

6. Not spit, smoke or chew tobacco where food is handled.

PERSONAL HYGIENE
1. Wash your hands with a good soap before and after handling food.

2. You should tie your hair to avoid shedding them in your food.

3. Avoid walking into kitchen with dirty feet, shoes, etc.

4. Sick individuals should not be in the kitchen.