Food safety guidelines

It is important for all of us to understand the food safety principles. Clean and safe food is what ultimately determines our health and wellness! 

Modern time chemicals and heavy metals are more serious threat to the health than insects and microbes. Just for example, various heavy metals in significant quantities enter our body and might damage our immune system, impair nervous system function and can cause genetic abnormalities in the offspring by gene mutation. Various types of hazardous chemicals and heavy metals finally enter nearby water source and contaminate the soil meant for crop cultivation. This is a common feature in at least developing countries where water treatment facilities are in pathetic conditions.

These toxic compounds ultimately enter human body directly or indirectly. Here is the catch! Large insects would be removed from the outer surface while micro organisms like bacteria, virus and ova/ cysts can be destroyed by cooking under steam pressure. But what about the chemicals and toxins? Harmful chemicals like DDT, insecticides like Endosulfan and heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium etc, have steadily embedded in the food items we consume.

Unfortunately, we still need to find out effective techniques to remove them, which is again a quite challenging task to the scientific world. However, the health risks can be at least minimized by applying food safety principles such as selecting food from authentic source, its proper processing, storage and preparation.

 

Food Selection

Food selection is certainly a challenging job; however, it is the key to ensure our food safety. Quite a number of number of factors plays their role like its origin (organic or chemicals treated), purchasing power of the person or family, geography, local availability, individual interest etc. Therefore, reasonable level of knowledge regarding food items is essential because many diseases ranging from minor food poisoning to serious cancers have been attributed to food we eat.

Here are some important methods to avoid wrong food selection:

1. Always buy fresh, seasonal vegetables and fruits grown from organic farms.
2. Avoid food items from crop fields irrigated with sewage water sources or polluted rivers.
3. Buy cereals and pulses from authentic organic farming sources.
4. Milk and its products should be derived from healthy livestock.
5. Poultry products and meat again from healthy animal farms.
6. Try to buy fresh fish from deep water sources as water ponds and most of the rivers are polluted.
7. Try to avoid take away foods as it is difficult to verify their authenticity.

Storage of food items

It is important to store food items as it should be remain fresh and palatable till we consume. Improper storing would deprive food items of their nutritive value, taste and would be attacked by microbes and insects. Here are some strategies of proper food storage:

• Always wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly in running water and then soak in salt water for about 30 minutes before storing them inside the refrigerator.
• Use vegetables (Greens) and fruits (Banana, grapes) with short shelf life as early as possible.
• Keep poultry items and meat in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.
• Keep cereals and pulses in air tight boxes or bags as they attract flies and insects if kept open.

Food processing

1. Processing of food should be done meticulously although it demands time and patience. But food safety is our priority. Right!   Preparation of food should be done with plan regarding time, cost, variety and number of people to cook.
2. Food items, especially fruits and vegetables should be washed in clean running water to remove dirt, chemicals and microbes. Cut items should not be washed as it results in loss of nutrients.
3. Soaking in clean water at least for 30 minutes before cooking helps to initiate enzymatic activity, increases nutritive value, digestibility and decreases cooking time and saves energy. Germination (sprouting) of cereals and pulses would increase nutritive value by enrichment vitamins and amylase.
4. Vegetables should be cut just before cooking and should be used without peeling as it results in loss of nutrients and fiber.
5. Cook food in clean utensils preferably under steam pressure. This saves time, energy and preserves food items of their nutrients.
6. Try to avoid frying of foods. Frying requires oil and more heat. Deep frying at higher temperatures produces harmful chemicals and converts unsaturated oil to more saturated Trans fats. Here are some tips for safe frying;

• Use oils like olive, mustard or soybean which are low in saturated fats. Try to avoid butter, animal fat, hydrogenated fat, palm oil and coconut oil.
• Use small amount of oil and do not reuse it for cooking. If frying requires more oil, then add fresh oil in small increments to replace oil used up in frying.
• Set the right temperature before putting food items for frying. Stir repeatedly while frying.
• Sauteing, using tomato or soy sauce as a base greatly reduces the cooking oil requirement.