If you run a food laboratory, you must maintain complete command of your business at all times, since even the tiniest shift in the atmosphere might cause deadly bacteria to spread throughout your goods or specimens.
As with all workplace hazards, prevention and preparation are the keys to success. If your food laboratory is aware of the risks and has adequate protection measures in place, such as Testo digital monitoring systems, it should be able to provide safe and effective service.
If, however, you think that you can go it alone, you run the risk of your products being exposed to several disease-creating bacteria and pathogens. Here are three of the most common examples.
- Salmonella
This is one of the most prevalent bacterial illnesses in the world, so you'd think people would have learned their lesson by now. Time and time again, food providers and preparation facilities throughout New Zealand as well as internationally fail to consider it when handling, storing, and cooking food.
Salmonellosis is most often found in raw and undercooked eggs, poultry, and meat, but it may also be detected in contaminated produce. Because unpasteurized milk has been known to develop Salmonella, facilities that manufacture milk need to be particularly careful.
Because the presence of this microbe is contingent on how your food or dairy product is cooked, your working environment must be stable and accurate at all times. If not, the bacteria have a greater opportunity to develop and spread, putting you in danger if the tainted goods reach retail shelves.
Even if the laboratory is only processing raw foods, these rules should be observed, because rapid temperature changes can still harm the product's integrity.
- Campylobacter
Some food laboratories specialise in storing items before they are transported or analysed. If these facilities can't promise consistent temperature monitoring, there's no sense in them continuing to operate.
One of the most important aspects of food safety is proper storage. If it is done incorrectly, the danger of contamination rises considerably, and the company's entire operation may be jeopardised.
Poultry and meat are especially sensitive to temperature when being stored or cooked, and they are both susceptible to Campylobacter bacteria, which may develop while they're in storage and cause food poisoning if it's not eliminated during the cooking process.
Even in freezing temperatures, the bacteria is not always eliminated, however, it is a good place to start. Freezers are a great place to focus Testo’s Saveris 2 monitoring system as it can then alert managers of any unplanned temperature fluctuations.
With most types of bacteria growing as a result of unsafe storing practices, there is no room for error.
- Listeria
While Campylobacter can survive freezing temperatures, Listeria can live in the slightly warmer climate of a refrigerator. This is noteworthy because most illness-causing bacteria are unable to.
Listeria, however, does not have the same deadly range as Campylobacter and Salmonella when it comes to producing sickness, but it does target those who are more susceptible to disease in general, so it needs to be treated with care.
Elderly people, pregnant women and young children are at particular risk of catching the disease, as are those who already have a compromised immune system.
Listeria bacteria are most often found in ready-to-eat foods that are commonly kept in the refrigerator, where food safety is concerned. Because the appearance of this microbe is so closely related to cooking, storing, and reheating temperature, food laboratory managers must be careful at all times.
Again, as with all of these bacteria, food laboratories should be able to manufacture safe and ready-to-eat foods if the appropriate safety controls are implemented and preventive precautions are taken.
For more information on Testo's range of solutions for food safety, get in contact with the team at Testo NZ today!