EHA Group Food Safety and Epidemiology Blog

Verification!, Verification, Verification!

There is only one way to truly determine if a food item has been cooked to the proper temperature! Use a calibrated thermometer! However, you also need to check to ensure that thermometers are calibrated consistently and that temperatures are not being “dry labbed”.

The importance of verification can not be understated and could mean the difference be maintaining foods safely and maintaining foods in the temperature danger zone. Verify!

Critical Limits

Every product has a limit as to how much it can be handled and manipulated before it’s quality begins to suffer. From a microbiological perspective, establishing critical limits ensures that items such as cold potentially hazardous foods are maintained below 41°F and hot foods are maintained at temperatures above 140°F.

When food items are not maintained within their critical limits – bacterial growth is encouraged. The HACCP system seeks to reduce this problem.

Biological Hazards

Most of the foodborne illnesses that affect people are attributable to biological hazards. The biological hazards that we are concerned with include bacteria, viruses and parasites. Of the three – bacteria are the largest group of concern and include organisms such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Shigella and Campylobacter. Luckily, these organisms are easy to destroy by means of cooking. However, some bacteria are toxin forming and thus produce chemicals during replication that can not be destroyed during the heating process. These toxins are most often observed during issues related to the improper cooling of foods such as soups, sauces and gravies.