Photo : Vegetables and meat were placed separately and cling wrapped, vegetables was stored above the meat ( poultry )
Cross-contamination occur when microorganisms are transferred from one surface or food to another.
Cross-contamination may occur when the meat is placed above vegetables as the water droplets from the meat will drip down and contaminate the vegetables. Pathogens like Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes in meat will contaminate the vegetables, which will then cause foodborne illnesses to occur when it is consumed.
There is an article on food poisoning- Rojak poisoning caused by cross-contamination by raw seafood.
"The Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA) identified the cause of the mass food-poisoning incident at Geylang Serai Temporary Market, which saw more than 150 people falling ill after eating Indian rojak from the Rojak Geylang Serai stall.
Two women also died.
Laboratory investigation showed that 13 of the cases, including the first woman who died, tested positive for the bacterium.
In a joint statement last night, MOH and NEA identified the bacterium and traced it to the cross-contamination of rojak and raw seafood ingredients. Contamination came about after drippings from raw cuttlefish fell into the rojak gravy, which was in uncovered containers on the lower shelves of a refrigerator.
Storing meat at a temperature range of 5-60 degree celsius will also allow bacteria in meat to multiple very fast.
Bacteria will be killed above 60 degree celsius and frozen below 5 deree celsius. Therefore it is advisable to store uncook meat in the chiller, take it out only when you are using.
In this case, infection disease from pathogenic microorganisms which is caused by eating food that contains living disease-causing microorganism in poultry. It will grow and establish themselves in the human intestinal tract causing foodborne illness to happen.
For foodborne illness to occur, the food must be very nutrition, so that microorganism can grow. In this case, poultry contains a lot of protein minerals and vitamins, which will then allow bacteria to grow very fast.
Bacteria can multiply when the meat is placed at room temperature for a long time. The food must be consumed and bacteria will start to attack and invade the other good bacteria. Therefore, it will weaken the body, symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or fever,. If it is worse, it can also cause death will occur.
To prevent foodborne illness to happen is actually very easy. Just make sure that,
1. Storing food in the correct way.
( Which is the photo I took )
2.Keep uncooked food away from ready-to-eat food.
3. Keep uncooked food at a temperature below 5 degree celcius.
4. Do not comsume food that had been left at room temperature more than 4 hours.
Information taken from : http://www.asiaone.com/Health/Eat%2BRight/Story/A1Story20090415-135347.html
Storing vegetable above raw meat is fine within right temp and time. From the picture, cannot tell what is directly above vegetable? What is in the tray above the veg? What is in the tray below the raw meat?
ReplyDeleteHow long were the food in ambience?
It was all vegetables. should i just take photo of vegetales and meat ?
ReplyDeleteis there any part that i have to elaborate more?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCalisa , if we cling wrapped the ingredients , doesn't it means that we have already practice preventing cross contamination from happening ? so why is there a need to make sure which is stack on top of which ? like for this case , Why do we have to make sure the raw meat must always be placed below the raw vegetables although both are already cling wrapped - Julene
ReplyDeleteTo summarise on storing of vegetables and meat on clealiness, Placing of raw meat below the vegetable even if it is cling wrap is because for that you can really be sure that there will not have cross-contamination. During storage, the cling wrap will get damp because of the cold temperature in chiller or freezer, moisture will form at the corner of the cling wrap. When it touches water (moisture from surrounding), it will be loose and might not be as tight as it suppose to be. if this really happens, even if the raw meat is placed below the vegetable, the liquid from the raw meat will not drip onto the vegetables and thus cross-contamination will not occur even if the cling wrap is loose from the tray.
ReplyDelete