Causes of Foodborne Illness in the Foodservice Environment

1. Failure to properly cool food

2. Failure to thoroughly heat or cook food
3. Infected employees who practice poor personal hygiene at home and at the workplace
4. Foods prepared a day or more before they are served
5. Raw, contaminated ingredients incorporated into foods that receive no further cooking
6. Foods allowed to remain at bacteria-incubation temperatures
7. Failure to reheat cooked foods to temperatures that kill bacteria
8. Cross-contamination of cooked foods with raw foods, or by employees who mishandle foods, or through
improperly cleaned equipment
The factors listed above can be divided into the following broad categories:

“Fatal Five.”
1. Contaminated Ingredients
2. Temperature Control
3. Personal Hygiene
4. Cross Contamination
5. Sanitation

Food Safety Practices that Prevent/Reduce Foodborne Illness

Contaminated Ingredients
Food may be contaminated by chemical, physical or microbiological sources. It should be assumed that raw
potentially hazardous foods-i.e., meats, fish, poultry eggs are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and should
never be eaten raw or undercooked.

Prevention Practices
1. Check packaged food for tears and canned goods for bulges or dents Purchase only packaged food that
appears to be in good condition
2. Store all food items away from household cleaning supplies
3. Label containers of household cleaners or detergents so they are not mistaken for food items. For example,
cornstarch and some laundry detergents are similar in texture.
4. Protect dry foods (rice, flour, pasta, cereals) from insects and rodents that often carry harmful bacteria by
storing in airtight containers in a cool, dry, place.
5. In the refrigerator, always place raw food items on the bottom shelves to prevent their juices from dripping
onto cooked food items.
6. Wash fresh fruits and vegetables with plain water.
7. Do not use gray enamelware, galvanized, brass or copper containers with acidic foods like lemonade,
strawberries, tomato products and salad dressing for cooking, serving or storage.
8. Use metal containers and metallic items only for their intended uses (for example do not use refrigerator
shelves as grills).
9. Clean can openers often to prevent small slivers of metal from cans from falling into food

Temperature Control
Failure to cool potentially hazardous foods quickly and failure to cook them thoroughly are major causes of
foodborne illness. It is vital to keep foods, especially potentially hazardous foods out of the Temperature
Danger Zone. To insure that foods are cooled, cooked, held at hot or cold temperatures that severely limit
bacterial growth, some type of food temperature measuring device must be used. The most commonly used is
the dial face, metal stem, bimetallic thermometer.
A metal stem bimetallic thermometer is an important tool for keeping track of food temperatures.

Prevention Practices
1. Pick up foods that should be kept cold last.
2. Buy eggs only from a refrigerated case.
3. In hot weather, take along cooler to keep foods cold.
4. Buy products labeled “Keep Refrigerated” only from a refrigerated case
5. Refrigerate or freeze cold food right away.
6. Maintain refrigerator temperature at 41°F. Place a thermometer in the rear portion of the refrigerator and
check at least once a day.
7. Defrost frozen foods in the refrigerator, NEVER on the kitchen counter. Food defrosts from the outside
towards the center, and the outside may be at room temperature for an extended period of time, while the
center is still frozen. The outside of the potentially hazardous food is at optimum temperature for rapid
bacterial growth.
8. Interrupted and/or partial cooking of potentially hazardous foods provides optimum conditions for bacterial
growth, therefore it should not be done.
Pre-prepared and Leftover Foods
1. Immediately after a meal, within two hours, divide foods into smaller amounts and place in the refrigerator.
2. Always remove stuffing from meats and poultry and store separately
3. Divide large pieces of meat or poultry into smaller pieces.
4. To cool a large amount of soup, stew, chili or other like food, place the container of food in a sink which
contains cold water and ice. The greater the proportion of ice to water, the quicker the cool down, stirring
will shorten the cooling time. The container of food may then be covered and placed in the refrigerator.

Cross Contamination
Cross contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria from one food item to another by means of a nonfood
surface, i.e., utensil, counter top, cutting board, mixing bowl, human hands, humans wearing single-use plastic
gloves.Bacteria can survive in kitchen sponges, dishtowels and dishcloths and be “transferred” to utensils and
equipment used in food preparation.

Prevention Practices
1. Put raw meat, fish and poultry in plastic bags to prevent their juices from dripping onto other foods.
2. In the refrigerator, store raw meats, fish, poultry below cooked and ready-to-eat raw foods to prevent
their juices dripping onto other food items
3. Store raw and cooked foods in separate areas
4. Put food in a plastic bag or dish on the lowest shelf in the refrigerator to prevent juices from dripping
onto other foods
5. Use utensils to serve food items that are already cooked.
6. Use a clean serving plate, not the plate that held the raw meat to serve cooked meat.
7. Wash, rinse and sanitize cutting boards and knives after cutting raw, meat, fish or poultry.
8. Use paper towels to wipe up meat, fish, or poultry spills.
9. Kitchen dishtowels, cloths and sponges should not be used to wipe up food spills from the floor or clean
hands and faces
10. Limit hand contact with tableware
11. Handle glasses or cups by the bottom or handles – don’t touch the rim
12. Pick up and place utensils by their handles
13. Avoid touching the rims of bowls, dishes, plates

Personal Hygiene
People are the key to preventing/reducing the risk of food borne illness. People can be carriers of disease
causing microorganisms and not show symptoms of illness, but may pass on the illness to other people. One
half of all healthy people carry a type of staphylococcus either without symptoms or in a pimple, acne or skin
wound.

Hands, which can never be totally free of bacteria, are in constant contact with cooked and uncooked food
items. Limiting hand contact with all food items is one of the first lines of defense in reducing food borne
illness. Employees in food establishments should not touch ready-to-eat food with their bare hands. They can
use utensils; spatulas, tongs or single use plastic gloves. Single-use plastic gloves can only be used for one task.
A new pair of gloves must be used for the next tasks. They should not be used for other purposes.

Hands must be washed frequently, for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap. They should always be
washed after using the restroom, eating, before starting food preparation, after preparing a raw potentially
hazardous food and preparing a food item that is eaten raw, picking up objects from the floor, handling a pet,
taking out the trash/garbage, coughing, sneezing, touching any part of the body, clearing tables and handling
dirty dishes.

Prevention Practices
1. Wash hands often with warm water and soap at least twenty seconds
2. After using the restroom
3. Before starting food preparation
4. After touching/working with a raw potentially hazardous food (meat, fish, poultry)
5. Picking up objects from the floor
6. Handling a pet
7. Taking out the garbage/trash
8. Coughing, sneezing
9. Touching any part of the body
10. Clearing tables and handling dirty dishes, pots and pans and cooking utensils
11. After using household cleaners
12. During food preparation as needed
13. Limit bare hand contact with ready to eat foods by using single-use plastic gloves, tongs, deli paper
14. Wear clean aprons, clothing during food preparation
15. Limit hand contact with parts of plates and utensils that come in contact with an individual’s mouth (see
section on cross-contamination)

Sanitation
Sanitizing is defined by FDA as “a process which reduces the presence of microorganisms to safe levels”. It is
not a substitute for cleaning.

Sanitation practices impact many of the other causes of food borne illness. For example, if the knife and cutting
board that has been used to cut up raw chicken is not washed, rinsed and sanitized before being used to cut up
carrots for a salad, cross contamination can occur.

Washing with hot water (not less than 110° F) and detergent and rinsing with hot water to remove soil and food
particles and detergent residue must take place in order for sanitizing to be effective. Heat and chemicals are the
two types of commonly used sanitizers. Heat may be used by immersing cleaned equipment and utensils in
water that maintains a temperature of 165°F (74° C) or above for at least 10 seconds after they are washed and
rinsed. The water should be changed often due to loss of temperature and build up of residues, etc. If food
preparation equipment and tableware are washed in a dishwasher, the water temperature should be at least
165°F. For safety reasons, the water temperature should never be above 194° F.

There are a wide variety of chemical sanitizers available to the food industry. Hypchiorites deodorize and
sanitize, are colorless and nonstaining, are easy to use, inexpensive, nontoxic to humans when used at
recommended concentrations and readily available for use in foods and nutrition labs. Sodium hypochlorite,
known as household chlorine bleach contains between 1-15% available chlorine. Hypchlorites release
hypochlorous acid in solution, It is the hypochlorous acid that destroys microorganisms. The effectiveness of
the sanitizing solution of chlorine bleach and water is directly related to the water temperature and pH of the
sanitizing solutions. They are not affected by hard water and do not leave a residue.

The cleaned items should be soaked in the chlorine sanitizing solution for at least 10 seconds. The solution
should be tested periodically using test strips that measure the concentration of the sanitizing solution. The test
strips may be purchased from restaurant supply houses. Caution: Chlorine bleach is considered a hazardous
material. Read the label concerning precautions for use.

Prevention Practices
1. All food storage areas-i.e., refrigerators, cupboards should be kept clean.
2. Food items in dry storage should be kept in airtight containers to prevent access by rodents and insects.
Rodents and insects carry harmful bacteria that can contaminate food.
3. Use paper towels to wipe up potentially hazardous food spills.
4. Wash, rinse and sanitize cutting boards, utensils and countertops after use in preparation of raw potentially
hazardous foods.
5. All food contact surfaces including pots and pans, utensils, equipment, counter tops, tableware (dishes and
silverware) and glassware should be clean and sanitized at some point(s) during the preparation, service and
clean-up.
6. If a three bin sink is not available, create a third sink by placing a clean plastic dishpan on the counter and
fill with the sanitizing solution.
7. All sanitized equipment should be air dried.
8. Wiping cloths, when not in use, should be stored in a solution of 1 teaspoon of chlorine bleach to 1 gallon of
water.