Lead Stories

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

AT CASUAL observation, there is a terrible dichotomy between the disposal of excess food by hotels, fast-food outlets and restaurants, while the need for meals by organisations which take care of the less fortunate as well as the hunger of some Jamaicans, is painfully obvious.

However, environmental health specialist of the Food Safety and Protection division in the Ministry of Health Collin Cooper explains that there is scientific principle and procedure behind the perceived wastage.

As Cooper puts it, "the concept is food safety".

According to Cooper, after being prepared and placed on a buffet line, food cannot go back into the kitchen or be sent out of the establishment.

"This food should not be reused. It must be discarded. You can't guarantee the safety of this food for human consumption," Cooper emphasised.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that food which is prepared and made available on a buffet line should be kept at an accepted temperature for no more than two to four hours.

The temperature band for food served hot is 60 to 70 degrees Celsius. Chilled items are required to be maintained at four to six degrees Celsius.

This is after, as required by The Public Health (Tourist Establishment) Regulations of 2000, the hot food is cooked to the "proper internal temperatures".

Safety First

"In the preparation of food, the safety and protection perspective is based on the premise that food should be safe from the farm to the table," Cooper said.

Measures are to be put in place to ensure food safety at all stages of the journey - planting, reaping, trans-portation, reception, preparation, cooking - through to disposal.

Cooper named three sources of the greatest risk of food contamination - the person who is handling or preparing the food, the person who comes to consume the food and the environment the food is in.

In controlling the last, Cooper said the standard procedure is that food - especially high-risk or potentially hazardous food - should not be consumed more than four hours after it has been prepared.

He cautions that "the standard time is once everything is normal. Once there is variation from the norm, you have to take appropriate action". And that is "to remove it forthwith from the line".

potentially hazardous

Among the high-risk or potentially hazardous food are meat, milk-based products and salads, as individual items or in various combinations such as sandwiches.

Cooper also points to possible harmful situations such as a person using the same knife to cut various items without washing it between the multiple uses.

According to Cooper, food safety and protection is "an integrated process. At all points you have to put measures in place to reduce or eliminate the risk of contamination, thus ensuring that the product you present for the consumer to consume is safe".

"It is the utilisation of scientific principles and procedures to ensure that food which is handled, stored and offered for sale is safe."