Food Safety & HACCP Training - SMC Consultants

Clostridium perfringens – facts

sunnibha — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:38:06 +0000

Clostridium perfringens food poisoning usually is a consequence of poor temperature control.

What are Clostridium perfringens?

They are spore forming bacteria that only grow in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic conditions).The spores can survive normal cooking temperatures and can be found in soil,dust, and the intestines of animals and humans.

When does poisoning occur?

When the individual eats a food where the bacteria has germinated and grown to elevated numbers (at least 500,000 per gram of food). The bacteria produce spores – once they are in the small intestine.The incubation period is 6-24hrs and most victims develop symptoms 10 to 12 hrs after eating a contaminated food.

Symptoms are not pleasant and include watery diarrhea, cramps and nausea for 12-24 hrs, and occasionnaly as long as 48 hrs.

Associated Foods are usually meat dishes that are cooked in advance, cooled too slowly, and then reheated inadequately and held at temperatures that promote bacterial growth.

How? Spores present in the raw meat, survive cooking and are able to grow during cooling of the meat, during reheating and holding.

So, What can you do?

Always cool food quickly – blast chiller, ice bath, cold water, portion or slice, decant…
Do not leave food to stand at room temeprature for long periodds of time.
Defrost food in the fridge – not at room temperature.
Reheat food thoroughly, bring food to a temperature above 75ºC or until piping hot (steamimg).

12% Increase in Food Safety Enforcement Orders in 2011

sunnibha — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:33:48 +0000

The FSAI have just announced that there was a total of 82 enforcement orders issued in 2011 for breaches of food safety. This compares with 73 in 2010, which is an increase of 12%. There were 5 Enforcement orders served in December. It is reassuring to see the Environmental Health Officers taking their roles seriously and ultimately protecting the public from unsafe food! Food business owners must protect themselves and the public from unsafe food being prepared and served which can have very serious consequences.

Oriel B2B Networking Group

sunnibha — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:27:52 +0000

I attended the oriel B2B breakfast meeting today in Finnabair Industrial Estate on Tuesday morning. There was a great turn out for the start of the New Year and an excellent presentation from Paddy Malone fron “Malone accountants”. If anybody is interested in attending as a guest I would be very happy for you to come along with me. You are welcome free of charge to see how it works and decide if it is something you would like to be involved in. I would encourage anybody starting on their own or working on their own to come as a guest….it is a great way to meet others and also learn from other business ideas. The next meeting is January 24th at 7.15am and SMC Food Safety Consultants will be making the company presentation aaghhh!!

Whole Cooked Hams and Presence of Listeria monocytogenes

sunnibha — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:08:30 +0000

Colleran Butchers Ltd Recalls Certain Whole Cooked Hams Due to the Presence of Listeria monocytogenes -http://www.fsai.ie/news_centre/food_alerts/Colleran_ham.html

Food Hygiene Training in conjunction with EHOA

sunnibha — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:41:30 +0000

We will be running the new revised food hygiene training course certified by the Environmental Health Officers Association in the coming weeks. It will be held in Oriel Shared Services, Finnabair Industrial Estate, Dundalk (free car parking).

This course is suitable for all food handlers – starting your own business or any established food company that requires staff training.

The course will run over two days – 9.15am -1.30pm (day 1) and 9.15am – 2.30pm (day 2).

On completion attendees will receive a certificate from the Environmental Health Officers Association (valid for 5 years).

For more details contact 087-6244572 or email info@smcfoodconsultants.ie.