Sunday is a lazy day. Lazy days are filled with lots of movies, blankets, and food. Eating food can be the highlight of your day, but if prepared incorrectly eating food can also become the worst part of your day. Food safety is a serious issue and should be treated with caution. Exercising poor food safety can put you and those you serve you food to at risk. Understanding food safety can save lives because you will be aware of obviously unsafe food, know how to prevent foodborne illnesses in your own food, and be able to help someone who has eaten unsafe food.
Awareness is one of the best ways to prevent any type of accident from happening. Being aware goes beyond only understanding the dangers of food. Awareness is when a person is actively checking when they can to make sure food is safe to eat. This alone could be saving your life, and the lives of those you eat with. A benefit of being aware is how easily awareness spreads to others.
Handling a potentially dangerous situation in front of another person spreads awareness because that person will remember and pass on the experience. This means that by being educated on food safety, you could be saving the lives of several people around you, even people you don’t know. But being aware isn’t the only way you can have a positive effect on your community.
Knowing how to prepare food safely is a important skill to learn. Foodborne illnesses can be extremely dangerous, and learning how to prevent them can save lives. There are three types of foodborne illnesses; Physical, chemical, and biological. Physical hazards are things like bones in meat that can cut people or cause them to
choke. Physical hazards can be prevented by making sure there aren’t any items you can’t eat in the food. Chemical hazards surface when things like cleaning spray accidentally touch food. Foods that have come into contact with chemicals can be deadly and should be thrown away. Bacteria and viruses are the culprit of most biological hazards in food. Raw poultry and dirty counters are great places to find biological hazards, so keep your food away.
Cooking outside the 40-140 degree (F) temperature danger zone can also pose a biological hazard. Biological hazards can be prevented by making sure food is served on clean dishes, does not come into contact with any uncooked food that might contain bacteria, and is cooked thoroughly. Another simple way to fight biological hazards is to simply wash your hands. Unfortunately however, sometimes people do not catch a hazard in food before it’s too late. This is where you can step in to help.
Knowing how to deal with a victim of food hazards can save lives. There are many ways to act if someone becomes ill from food. The first step is to identify the problem. Knowing if a person is suffering from a biological, chemical, or physical food hazard is important because it will direct your next course of action. Once you have analyzed the situation you can then provide the needed supplies to help that person.
Biological and Chemical hazards should be treated with household medicines, unless a person is showing signs of problems to be handled by medical professionals. Physical hazards, such as choking, can be solved on scene and don’t usually need medical attention. Having these skills readily available can save lives because you can help anyone around you until medical officials arrive. On the other hand however, some might argue that food safety is rather unnecessary to actively practice.
Is food safety a valuable skill to learn? Most definitely. Being able to help and save any munchers around you is a universal skill. By learning proper food safety you can have a positive effect on your community and earn better jobs in the food industry. There is a sense of fulfillment is cooking safe food as well. You should feel good serving people food they will love, and rest easy knowing they won’t have a rough night in the bathroom because of your cheeseburger.
You will also be the star of your family gatherings, as you will be serving up the tastiest food out of anyone else at dinner. Food is one of the only things all humans on earth can bond over. Being able to send a delicious plate of food into someone’s belly safely means you will be a friend to all. Food safety in a way, makes the world go round’. Not only is food safety important to know, it is also used all the time.
Food safety is one of the most utilized skills in the world. Every time you go to eat a meal you need to make sure your food is safe. This can include both your food, and those around you. For example, you might notice at a restaurant that your burger looks undercooked. The burger is tested and proven to be a little too rare, and you just saved yourself from potentially becoming ill. Another example might be noticing a sharp fish bone sticking out of your friend’s salmon. The bone can then be removed and that person’s meal, and night have been saved. Food safety is necessary everywhere you go and should be practiced regularly.
In conclusion, food safety has life saving capabilities in many different forms. Practicing food safety on your own can help other people become aware of the dangers of food and prevent harm in their home. Knowing how to help someone who has fallen ill to food is life saving without explanation. Being able to prevent food related accidents is critical so that nothing you serve will cause anyone harm. Dinner time can be one of a families’ best times together throughout the day. Keeping your family safe and fed is important not just for survival, but important for the stability of your household. Make sure to remember food safety, because it’s never fun to wake up at 2am with an upset stomach from an undercooked steak.