Food safety
guidelines
It is important for all of us
to understand the food safety principles.
Clean and safe food is what ultimately determines our health
and wellness!
Modern time chemicals and heavy metals are more serious threat to the
health than insects and microbes. Just for example, various heavy
metals in significant quantities enter our body and might damage our
immune system, impair nervous system function and can cause genetic
abnormalities in the offspring by gene mutation. Various types of
hazardous chemicals and heavy metals finally enter nearby water source
and contaminate the soil meant for crop cultivation. This is a common
feature in at least developing countries where water treatment
facilities are in pathetic conditions.
These toxic compounds ultimately enter human body directly or
indirectly. Here is the catch! Large insects would be removed from the
outer surface while micro organisms like bacteria, virus and ova/ cysts
can be destroyed by cooking under steam pressure. But what about the chemicals and
toxins?
Harmful chemicals like DDT, insecticides like Endosulfan and heavy
metals like mercury, lead, cadmium etc, have steadily embedded in the
food items we consume.
Unfortunately, we still need to find out
effective techniques to remove them, which is again a quite challenging
task to the scientific world. However, the health risks can be at least
minimized by applying food safety principles such as selecting food
from authentic source, its proper processing, storage and preparation.
Food Selection
Food selection is certainly a
challenging job; however, it is the key to
ensure our food safety. Quite a number of number of factors plays their
role like its origin (organic or chemicals treated), purchasing power
of the person or family,
geography, local availability, individual interest etc. Therefore,
reasonable
level of knowledge regarding food items is essential because many
diseases ranging from minor food poisoning to serious cancers have been
attributed to food we eat.
Here
are some
important methods to avoid wrong food selection:
- Always buy fresh, seasonal vegetables and
fruits grown from organic farms.
- Avoid food items from crop fields irrigated
with sewage water sources or polluted rivers.
- Buy cereals and pulses from authentic organic
farming sources.
- Milk and its products should be derived from
healthy livestock.
- Poultry products and meat again from healthy
animal farms.
- Try to buy fresh fish from deep water sources
as water ponds and most of the rivers are polluted.
- Try to avoid take away foods as it is difficult
to verify their authenticity.
Storage of food
items
It is important to store food
items as it should be remain fresh and
palatable till we consume. Improper storing would deprive food items of
their nutritive value, taste and would be attacked by microbes and
insects. Here are some strategies of proper food storage:
- Always wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly in
running water and then soak in salt water for about 30 minutes before
storing them inside the refrigerator.
- Use vegetables
(Greens) and fruits (Banana,
grapes) with short shelf life as early as possible.
- Keep poultry items and meat in the freezer
compartment of the refrigerator.
- Keep cereals and pulses in air tight boxes or
bags as they attract flies and insects if kept open.
Food processing
Processing of food should be
done meticulously although it demands time
and patience. But food safety is our priority.
Right! Preparation of food should be done with plan
regarding time,
cost, variety and number of people to cook.
-
Food items, especially
fruits and vegetables
should be washed in clean running water to remove dirt, chemicals and
microbes. Cut items should not be washed as it results in loss of
nutrients.
-
Soaking in clean water at
least for 30 minutes
before cooking helps to initiate enzymatic activity, increases
nutritive value, digestibility and decreases cooking time and saves
energy. Germination (sprouting) of cereals and pulses would increase
nutritive value by enrichment vitamins and amylase.
-
Vegetables should be cut
just before cooking
and should be used without peeling as it results in loss of nutrients
and fiber.
-
Cook food in clean utensils
preferably under
steam pressure. This saves time, energy and preserves food items of
their nutrients.
-
Try to avoid frying of
foods. Frying requires
oil and more heat. Deep frying at higher temperatures produces harmful
chemicals and converts unsaturated oil to more saturated Trans fats.
Here are some tips for safe frying;
-
Use oils like olive,
mustard or soybean which
are low in
saturated fats. Try to avoid butter, animal fat,
hydrogenated fat, palm oil and coconut oil.
-
Use small amount of oil
and do not reuse it
for cooking.
If frying requires more oil, then add fresh oil in small
increments to replace oil used up in frying.
- Set the right temperature before putting food
items for
frying. Stir repeatedly while frying.
- Sauteing, using tomato or soy sauce as a base
greatly
reduces the cooking oil requirement.
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