Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2.3.2.4
Product Flow at Retail
When purchasing foods, it is important to ensure that they come from reliable vendors,
and from sources that comply with national and local food codes. When receiving a
food, employees should ensure that it is within its best before date, and it has come in
clean and undamaged packaging. The food should arrive at the temperature which is
deemed safe for the product and be free of pests. Foods that should be refrigerated
should be done so promptly, while foods that need to be frozen should be frozen. In
addition, the potential for cross-contamination between products needs to be addressed.
When a food arrives at retail, it is important to ensure that it is stored in such a way
as to limit or prevent bacterial growth, as well as prevent cross-contamination. In a
recent FDA report on risk factors at retail, failure to control product holding tempera-
tures and times was a major risk factor and had the highest 'Out of Compliance'
percentage, i.e., 52.1 % of produce departments tested were out of compliance. In the
meat sector, 19.2 % of meat and poultry departments were out of compliance for
holding temperature (FDA
2009
). Control of cold-holding temperatures and date
marking can provide added protection by slowing the growth of
L. monocytogenes
and establishing a time limit for discarding food before the organism can multiply
to potentially dangerous levels (FDA
2009
).
Potentially hazardous foods should be stored at a temperature of 4 °C or below.
This is important as most microorganisms (with the notable exception of
Yersinia
,
nonproteolytic
C. botulinum
, psychrotrophic
B. cereus
, and
Listeria
) do not grow or
multiply at that temperature. Studies have shown that almost 30 % of retail inspections
fi nd improper holding times or holding temperatures, refrigeration that is broken or
old refrigeration that was designed when the maximum cold-holding temperature was
45 °F/7 °C (Parsons
2010
). When refrigerating foods, it is important to load them
properly to prevent cross-contamination. Raw foods such as meat should be stored
separately from RTE foods and raw meats should be stored in the bottom of the refrig-
erator so that they do not drip onto other foods. In addition, refrigerators should not
be overcrowded so that the air can circulate freely. When loading the display case, it
is important not to overstock or block any vents. Freezing food is important in main-
taining freshness and preventing microbial contamination. Frozen food that has been
thawed should not be refrozen, as bacteria may have already begun to multiply.
In Canada, shelf life information is required on food packaging on foods having
a durable shelf life less than 90 days. This food is required by the
Food and Drug
Regulations
in Canada to be labeled with “packaged on” with a date and durable
life information, “packaged on” and “best before” date info (Health Canada
2013
) .
2.4
Preparation
Microbial contamination can occur during food preparation at the retail level. Food
contamination can occur during washing, peeling, cutting, mixing, portioning, plat-
ing, and decorating of food. For example, one study found that between 1992 and
