Sanitation and The Food Industry: Hapter
Sanitation and The Food Industry: Hapter
Sanitation and The Food Industry: Hapter
THE FOOD INDUSTRY enough food each year to feed 128 people.
Even though the number of farms is decreas-
The food system is a complex, concen- ing, overall farm production is increasing,
trated, and dynamic chain of activities that indicating more efficient productivity. This food
begins with the production of raw agricul-tural production efficiency has resulted in a wide
commodities on farms, orchards, and ranches variety of foods being made available to U.S.
and moves to value-added processed and consumers. Proportionally less is spent on food
manufactured products and then to retail food (approximately 10% of disposable income) than
stores and foodservice establish-ments for most consumers in other parts of the world.
(restaurants and institutions) where they are Although the structures of production
merchandised, prepared, and sold to agriculture and farming prac-tices have
consumers. Each sector of the food system is changed dramatically over the years, the result
unique in size, scope, and diversity and has has been a larger, less expen-sive, more
evolved and adapted to changes in demo- diverse, and safer food supply.
graphics and lifestyles, science and technol-
Food Processing and Manufacturing
ogy, and consumer demands. To more fully
comprehend the role of sanitation and food Food and beverage processing facilities
safety in the food industry, it is important to transform raw agricultural materials into
understand the uniqueness of each sector of intermediate foodstuffs or edible products.
the food system. In the United States, there are nearly
29,000 food plants owned by 22,000
Production Agriculture
companies. These plants employ about 1.7
Agriculture is the world’s largest industry million work-ers, which is just over 1% of all
and involves more people than all other U.S. employ-ment.
occupations combined. This industry gener- In recent years, the food processing industry
ates one out of six jobs in the United States. has become more consolidated and concen-
The United States produces more food than trated through mergers and acquisitions. From
any other nation and is the world’s largest 1993 to 2002, there were over 5,800 mergers
exporter of agricultural products. Today, and acquisitions in the food industry. To con-
there are about 2 million farms in the United tinue attracting customers and increase sales,
States and the average farmer produces profits, and market share, food processors are
1
PRINCIPLES OF FOOD SANITATION
sanitation program can increase the foodborne illnesses and cause injury. In the
shelf life of food. last several years, there have been some
An effective sanitation program includes major food safety incidents that have made
regular cleaning and sanitizing of all headlines and focused attention on poor san-
equipment in a facility including heat-ing, itary practices in all sectors of the food sys-
air conditioning, and refrigeration tem. Some of these incidents are shown in
equipment. Dirty, clogged coils harbor Table 1–1 and explained below.
microorganisms and blowers and fans During the past decade, a large Salmonella
can spread flora throughout the facility. enteritidis outbreak in ice cream was caused by
Clean and sanitized coils lower the risk of the cross-contamination of pasteurized ice
airborne contamination and can reduce cream mix. The pasteurized mix was trans-
energy and maintenance costs by up to ported from premix plants to a freezing oper-
20%. Insurance carriers may reduce rates ation in tanker trucks that had previously been
for clean establishments as a result of used to haul raw liquid eggs. The eggs were
improved working condi-tions as well as contaminated with S. enteritidis. The hauler was
fewer customer com-plaint claims. supposed to wash and sanitize the trucks
Various, less tangible benefits of an before the ice cream mix was loaded, but this
effective sanitation program include: procedure was often bypassed. Inves-tigators
improved product acceptability, found egg residue in one tanker truck after
increased product shelf life, (c) sat- cleaning and noted soiled gaskets, inad-equate
isfied and perhaps even delighted cus- records, and the lack of inspection and
tomers, (d) reduced public health risks, documentation of cleaning and sanitization
increased trust of regulatory agen-cies procedures. There was a nationwide recall of
and their inspectors, (f) decreased over 6.3 million kg of ice cream products before
product waste and removal, and the incident was resolved. It was esti-mated that
improved employee morale. approximately 224,000 people became ill in this
outbreak. The proper clean-ing and sanitization
Sanitation: A Foundation for Food of the tanker trucks could have prevented this
Safety Assurance incident.
Proper sanitation practices provide the In another large outbreak, Escherichia coli
foundation that food safety assurance sys- 0157:H7 in contaminated and undercooked
tems are built upon. Poor hygienic and sani- ground beef patties caused 732 illnesses and 4
tary practices can contribute to outbreaks of deaths in four states. Ground beef con-
taminated at the meat processing plant was
Table 1–1 Major Food Safety Incidents
STUDY QUESTIONS
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