Facilitating Hygiene In Food Production Chain

It is extremely important that eateries get their food and beverage products only from reputed and registered suppliers and institute a system of regular inspection to facilitate that the supplied products are of consistently high quality

- Jyotismita Sharma

The food passes through several stages before it reaches the dining table. The risk of contamination arises in various stages of journey of food from farm to fork – be it production, processing, distribution or preparation. People involved in each of these processes have great responsibilities in ensuring the safety of the food because contamination can occur at any stage of the production chain.

For example, in the production process itself, use of contaminated water for irrigation can lead to contaminated fruits and vegetables. Similarly, in the processing stage, use of contaminated water or ice for cleaning fruits and vegetables can help the contamination spread among those fruits and vegetables.

In the distribution stage too, contamination can occur through various means. For example, if a truck is loaded with fresh produce without carrying out the necessary sanitisation process, especially if it was previously used for transporting animal products. Then in that case, the chances of the fresh produce getting contaminated cannot be denied.

In the preparation of food too, the lack of personal hygiene on the part of a worker can lead to contamination of food served on the dining table. For instance, take the case of a sick employee showing up at work or handling food at a kitchen without washing hands after using toilet. Then in that case, the risk of the worker spreading germs to the food increases substantially.