Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The most cost-effective measures were considered to
be education and training involving both managers and
food handlers.
Table 8.2
Fitness to work questionnaire
Pre-employment questionnaire
Yes
No
Good hygiene practice
Hygienic use of knives
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, the general regulation on
the hygienic production of all foodstuffs, at Annex II,
Chapter V, requires that 'all articles, fittings and equip-
ment with which food comes into contact are to be effec-
tively cleaned and, where necessary, disinfected. Cleaning
and disinfection are to take place at a frequency suffi-
cient to avoid any risk of contamination.
The most common method of sterilising implements
is in a cabinet containing water at 82°C, the knife, saw or
whatever piece of equipment is to be sterilised being left
in situ
for at least 2 minutes. It is essential that the level
of the water covers the handle/blade junction and that
the knife or implement is visibly clean before being
placed in the steriliser. If it is not washed first, the blood
and debris will merely harden on to the blade, which
should not be considered sanitised. A 44°C rinse fol-
lowed by a dip into a steriliser at 82°C will reduce the
contamination on a knife to less than 10
3
cfu/cm (Bell
and Hathaway, 1996). Sterilising equipment without a
flow-through of water is not to be recommended as it
can quickly become filthy. This is particularly the case
for splitting saws where, if a plunge bath is used, the
water rapidly takes on the colour and consistency of a
thick soup. For this type of equipment, a cabinet into
which the blade of the implement is placed and sprayed
with a foot-operated stream of water is preferred. The
water from the cabinet can be positively ducted, reduc-
ing steam and splash.
Current legislation in many countries, including the
EU, permits the use of alternative methods, to water at
82°C, for sterilisation of knives and equipment, as long
as they are proven to be effective. Food Science Australia
(FSA) investigated the origin of 82°C water as the
standard accepted method and found it to be based on a
study carried out in the United States into methods of
sterilising splitting saws in the 1950s. They identified the
following benefits of using lower water temperatures for
sterilisation of equipment:
•
Reducing risk of operator injury (scalds)
•
Reducing hot water consumption, particularly by
knife sterilisers
•
Less water, particularly hot water, going to effluent
ponds
•
Saving on energy costs for heating
•
Reducing fogging and condensation
•
Potential reduction in maintenance requirements
1. Have you now, or have you over the last 7 days,
suffered from diarrhoea and/or vomiting
2. At present, are you suffering from:
(i) skin trouble affecting hands, arms or face?
(ii) boils, styes or septic fingers?
(iii) discharge from eye, ear or gums/mouth?
3. Do you suffer from:
(i) recurring skin or ear trouble?
(ii) a recurring bowel disorder?
4. Have you ever had, or are you known to be, a
carrier of typhoid or paratyphoid?
5. In the last 21 days, have you been in contact
with anyone, at home or abroad, who may have
been suffering from typhoid or paratyphoid?
If the answer to any question is 'yes', the individual
should not be employed as a food handler until medical
advice has been obtained.
Table 8.2. The effectiveness of this one-off certificate in
preventing persons carrying readily transferable infec-
tions is dubious. Some companies require regular faecal
samples to attempt to identify salmonella carriers, but
since excretion of pathogens is frequently intermittent,
this is unlikely to be very effective.
The World Health Organisation (Health Surveillance
and Management Procedures for Food-Handling
Personnel Technical Report Series 785, 1989) concluded
that 'the pre-employment and subsequent routine medi-
cal examination of food handlers are ineffective and
thus unnecessary. Examination may, however, be appro-
priate in the case of food handlers reporting sick or in
the investigation of outbreaks of food-borne disease.
Reference was also made to the policy in the state of
Florida in the United States where similar conclusions
were reached.
These conclusions were based on a study of the
following: physical examination, medical history, throat
swabs, blood tests, X-rays and skin tests for TB and other
lung infections, and the examination of faeces for patho-
gens and parasites.
A study of countries where pre-employment and
routine periodic medical examinations are mandatory
disclosed high costs of medical and laboratory examina-
tions aggravated by the high labour turnover, seasonal
employment and the use of part-time staff in the food
industry. Many of these countries no longer adopt
routine medical examinations.
