FOOD SAFETY TRAINING: REACTION PAPER

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In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Subject of [Subject Name]

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to

[Name of Prof]

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by

[Name of members]

09 October 2020
 Food is one of the most important necessities for any living creatures in which, us, human
beings, belong to. By that being said, people in the business industry continue to make profit out of
products that are food-related. And as a result, there is an increasing competition in the commercialized
sectors on food-industry; local and international.

Study entitled Food Service Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity
and Forecast 2019-2024 shown that the global food service market size was worth US$ 3.4 Trillion in
2018 and is expected to reach a value of US$ 4.2 Trillion by 2024, registering a CAGR of 3.6% during
2019-2024. Meanwhile, as of 2015, the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tallied around
12,000 food processing establishments nationwide, most of which are owned by single proprietors; and
28,932 establishments were recorded for accommodation and food service activities in the Philippines
on year 2017 (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2019).

However, by the growing industry of food-related businesses and services in Philippines and all
over the world, there should be a strict monitoring on how food, in any kind, should be prepared.
Businesses should acknowledge prioritizing the health of their consumers. It is their primary
responsibility to ensure and provide quality products that may help and satisfy the needs of their
consumers. By this, there should be rigor compliance on food management and preparation. People
who are in food-related services should be trained and informed about the significance of proper
handling and preparation of food in all kinds of aspects within or out of their premises.

In the video named Food Safety Training, an enactment of inappropriate food handling, it shows
numerous mistakes on how to prepare food especially if you are an employee in the kitchen. It is in the
sense that if you are the person responsible in the kitchen, you are accountable on maintaining an
uncontaminated area and conduct a thoroughly clean preparation of food. The mistakes shown in the
video are mostly caused by human errors and unconscious acts. By that, we can clearly identify that the
employee being portrayed in the video maybe unfamiliar and not well-trained about the right
preparation and handling of food or food safety practices. These are some of the errors shown in the
video: (1) Untied hair [it is because the person who acts as an employee is a lady]; (2) wearing of
jewelries; (3) Using the same pair of gloves in multiple purposes; it is shown in the video that the lady
uses the same pair of gloves when slicing the food, shaking hands to a person, touching raw meat, and
slicing foods again; (4) eating in the food preparation area; (5) wearing improper working clothes; (6) not
washing hands properly; (7) not putting personal items on its proper place and; (8) working while
experiencing sickness.

These errors may cause food borne illnesses, contamination, and cross-contamination. Untied
and touching of hair while preparing, may cause a hair to fall directly and contaminate the food. Similar
on wearing jewelries and accessories; they have components such as metal, gold, and chemicals which
can also contaminate the food you are preparing. Moreover, using gloves on multiple purposes and
eating in the working area is a big “No No” because cross contamination may occur. According to Malik
Hussain (2016), food contamination is generally defined as foods that are spoiled or tainted because
they either contain microorganisms, such as bacteria or parasites, or toxic substances that make them
unfit for consumption. A food contaminant can be biological, chemical or physical in nature, with the
former being more common. Cross-contamination, in the other hand, is the transfer of bacteria or other
microorganisms from one substance to another (Carrasco et al. 2012). We know that bacteria, viruses,
parasites, chemicals and other toxins are sometimes cannot be seen by a naked eye. So it is extremely
important to sanitize and make sure that there is a less possibility of transferring of toxins from things
that may have it, to the food you are preparing. Initially there are three main types of cross
contamination; (1) food-to-food, adding contaminated foods to non-contaminated foods results in food-
to-food cross-contamination. This allows harmful bacteria to spread and populate (Finn et al. 2013); (2)
equipment-to-food, one of the most common yet unrecognized types of cross-contamination. It can be
from the equipments that are not washed properly which may cause bacteria to exist and; (3) person-to-
food. Transfer bacteria from their bodies or clothes to food during many steps of food preparation
(Robinson et al. 2016). If a person do not guarantee a full security on handling food, and an instance
gave it to the consumer, it may cause food-borne illnesses.

Food-borne illnesses are caused by consuming contaminated foods and beverages due to
bacteria, pathogens, chemicals, toxins, and other microorganisms. There are lots of types of food borne
diseases. It is determined on what kind of microorganism or toxin that causes a certain type of disease.
In line with the article released by Lydia Zuraw (2015), about one in every 10 people around the world is
sickened by foodborne disease each year. Of those 600 million people, 420,000 die as a result. These
numbers are the first global estimates — conservative ones  — of food-borne illnesses and were
calculated by the World Health Organization (WHO). This statistics of the World Health Organization
should be an eye opener for everyone, either you are in food-related services or you are the consumer.
It is our responsibility to know where the food is coming from, and/or prepare food in which will not
cause any harm to people who will consume it. Health is vital, so we should help not only ourselves but
other people too, on maintaining a good and disease-free body.

Going back to Food Safety Training video, we should also know when to be at work and when to
leave for a day. It is a must to rest and stay at home when you are not feeling well. In the video, the lady
shows that she is sick; she has colds, and can’t even stop her hands from touching her face while
preparing food. It is a “red flag” and even considered unethical on food services. Viruses may be passed
on to the food, and food will be passed on to the consumers resulting to possible illnesses. Likewise,
even though you do not have colds, but you are injured, or experiencing other illnesses, it is better to
stay at home to prevent accidents in the working premises. It can also prevent viruses, caused by your
existing illness, to spread on the workplace.

We all believed that maintaining sanitized working premises really brings out good quality of
food and beverages. But we should also not forget that self discipline brings it more. Aside from
following rules and regulation on cleaning and preserving a sanitized working place, it is a must also for
us to focus on personal hygiene. Personal hygiene is really about taking care of yourself from the tip of
your hair to sole of your feet. It is vital in stopping the development and spread of illness and infection.
This simple habit doesn’t just benefit your health – it can also help protect those around you
too. Especially being part on food-related industries, it is extremely important to keep yourself clean.
Unlike on the mistakes shown on the video (errors 5 to 7), she should also keep herself free from
potential dangers that may result to contamination of foods, like washing her hands properly, putting
her things on their proper places, wearing appropriate clothes, bathe before going to work, and/or
overall being neat and clean.

In today’s world, we should realize that cleanliness is very important in all aspects of our lives.
Even you are not the one working on food industries; you should learn to take care of yourself. We
should be well informed about how things are being processed or what was presently going on. We
should remember that discipline starts within ourselves and it reflects on others. Small acts can change
great things. If every one of us tries to become open on the concept of cleanliness or hygiene in any
aspect, then there will be less possibility to create new diseases that has still no cure like Covid 19—just
kidding, then there will be a great living world for us. And I’m hoping it’s not too late.
 REFERENCES

Carrasco et al, 2012. Cross-contamination and recontamination by Salmonella in foods: A review. Web.
Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0963996911006260

Finn et al, 2013. Mechanism of Survival, Responses and sources of Salmonella in low moisture
environment. Web. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827549/

Hussain, 2016. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Food Contamination: Major Challenges of the future. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5302336/

Food Service Market. (2019). Researchandmarkets.com. Retrieved from

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/4828753/food-service-market-global-industry-trends?
utm_source=CI&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=3qmplj&utm_campaign=1289501+-
+Global+Food+Service+Market+Report+2019-2024%3a+Market+is+Expected+to+Reach+a+Value+of+US
%24+4.2+Trillion&utm_exec=chdo54prd

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2019). 2017 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) -
Accommodation and Food Service Activities Sector For All Establishments: Final Results.Author

Robinson et al. 2016. Adequate Hand Washing and Glove Use Are Necessary To Reduce Cross-
Contamination from Hands with High Bacterial Loads. Web. Retrieved from
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26818993/

Zuraw, 2015. Food Safety News. WHO releases First Global Estimates of Food-borne disease. Web.
Retrieved from https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/12/who-releases-first-global-estimates-
of-foodborne-disease/#:~:text=About%20one%20in%20every%2010,World%20Health%20Organization
%20(WHO).