Unit 1 Seminar

 Food Service Chemicals

Chemicals are all over the food industry, there are many rules and safety measures in place to
prevent contamination, these include:

Stored away from food as well as any equipment that gets used with food.

Containers always labelled.

Only utilize lubricants that are created and specifically made for food equipment

 The 3 Main Contaminants

-Biological
Responsible for majority of food-borne illnesses
Bacteria, spores
Usually from unsafe flow of food practices such as:
Not cooking food the correct way (temperature)
Storing food at incorrect temperatures
Poor personal hygiene such as handwashing or even not re-gloving

-Chemical
Examples include toxic heavy metals (lead poisoning) and food service chemicals (cleaning
products)
Just like Flint, Michigan, Washington DC had a lead poisoning outbreak that was about 30x
worse than Flint
Utensils used in kitchens can contain toxic metals which have the ability to contaminate foods
with high acidity

-Physical
Physical contaminant that usually falls into the food, these include:
Dirt
Bones
Band-aid
Fingernails
Glass
Metal shavings from cans
Rubberbands from a crab

 Other Contaminants
Deliberate:
Examples of deliberate contamination include angry former employees or even organized
terrorist groups trying to harm others.
 The best way to hinder deliberate contamination is to make it as difficult as you can for
someone to mess with it and a food defense program should come in at points where food may
be at risk.

Food allergens:

There are proteins in food, some more common than others, that can cause an immune reaction
in someone when consumed.

Most common food allergens are dairy products, eggs, shellfish, wheat, soy, and nuts.

It is mostly up to the service staff of a restaurant to be open and honest with customers in order
to prevent allergic reactions.

Always air dry utensils

-The elderly, infants/small children, and people with comorbidities are most at risk for food-borne
illness- due to a compromised immune system or an immune system that is not yet fully developed

Reflections and Questions:

-Is hair considered a physical contaminant?

-It is interesting to thing about the importance food safety shines on toxic metal poisoning yet heavy
metals were recently found in a large amount of baby food brands. Considering infants and small
children are one of the populations most at risk for food borne illnesses it is intriguing to ponder how
those metals were approved to be in baby food.

-I also found it interesting about the high levels of lead in Washington DC water supply, it is crazy what
goes unreported and unknown for so long. There is so much light shed on Flint, Michigan so why did it
go unnoticed in DC. I work with kids on the autism spectrum who have abnormal levels of heavy metals
in their system so the topic is interesting to me.