Identifying and controlling food hygiene hazards at work
Outcome. FI: Henkilö osaa tunnistaa ja torjua työssään elintarvikehygieeniset vaarat. EN: The person can identify and control food hygiene hazards in their work.
Why it matters
Hazards can be controlled only when they are known. Knowing the hazards of your own foods and work steps is the base of own-check.
What to know
- Food hazards are microbiological, chemical or physical, and fall into these three groups. A risk is the possibility or probability that a hazard has its negative health effect; a hazard is the possible cause of harm, not a risk that already happened. Examples: too little cooking, too slow cooling, natural toxins such as bean lectin, contaminants such as dioxin, wrong additive dosage and missing allergen labelling.
- Operators know the hazards of their foods and handling, and define controls. Own-check ensures food is safe chemically, physically and microbiologically, and does not mislead the consumer. Risk groups are children under school age, pregnant or breastfeeding people, the elderly and severely ill people with lowered resistance.
- HACCP: operators set up and maintain permanent procedures based on HACCP principles. The first principle is to identify the hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels. Principles also include critical control points, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification and documentation. Critical limits separate acceptable from unacceptable levels. When monitoring shows a point is not under control, corrective actions must be taken. Records are kept in proportion to the size and nature of the business. When a product, process or step is changed, the procedure is reviewed and updated. People responsible for HACCP procedures receive adequate training.
Temperatures
- The operator measures and follows the temperatures of storage conditions and foods, and decides the frequency from the measurements. Measure where the temperature is most likely to deviate. Measuring devices are reliable and calibrated; infrared thermometers can give wrong readings if not calibrated to the surface.
- A short-term deviation is one-off, at most 24 hours and at most 3 °C above the required temperature. A deviation of more than 3 °C, or one that is not short-term, always needs corrective action: move food to cold or heat it, adjust the cabinet or reduce the load.
- Overfilling a cold cabinet beyond the fill line stops air circulating and makes temperatures uneven. Food prepared by heating today for tomorrow is chilled to +6 °C or below in at most four hours.
- At goods receipt, chilled and frozen deliveries are checked (packaging, temperatures, dates) according to own-check and recorded.
When something goes wrong
- An operator immediately notifies the municipal food control authority of serious health hazards found in own-check or otherwise, and of the measures taken.
- When unsafe food has been placed on the market, the operator starts the withdrawal and informs the authorities. Food is not placed on the market if unsafe, meaning injurious to health or unfit for human consumption. If one food in a batch is unsafe, the whole batch is presumed unsafe unless a detailed assessment shows otherwise.
- Own-check includes instructions for suspected food poisoning, pests and recalls.
Scenario
A chef finds the display cabinet at +8 °C, more than 3 °C over its limit. She moves the food to cold storage, reduces the load, adjusts the cabinet and records it. Since the deviation is more than 3 °C, corrective action is required.
Numbers to remember
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Short-term temperature deviation | one-off, at most 24 hours and at most 3 °C |
| Cooling for tomorrow | +6 °C or below in at most 4 hours |
Myth vs reality
- Myth: HACCP is only for primary production. Reality: Operators set up HACCP-based procedures.
- Myth: Corrective action is optional. Reality: It is required when a control point is not under control.
- Myth: Recall is the authority's job alone. Reality: The operator starts withdrawal and informs the authorities.
In the test
"Immediately" for serious hazards and for withdrawal; "more than 3 °C" for corrective action; the whole batch is unsafe if one item is.