Food Safety Abroad

Beware of Critical Food Safety Issues If You Travel Abroad

If you are planning to travel outside the United States, the issues of food safety must be a major concern to you. Many of you will have not only limited, but questionable choices of food to eat, especially in any country where the food safety laws are either lax or missing altogether.

The safety regulations that pertain to food safety in many of the poorer countries are not as defined as they are in the industrialized world. Since they lack the resources to maintain food safety problems, the underdeveloped countries are plagued with food-borne illnesses that often lead to a high mortality rates and infectious diseases. Before you travel to any of the countries that have food safety issues, all tourists be aware of the following issues before leaving on your journey.

If you enjoy eating fruits or vegetables, make sure you peel and then throw away the skin of the food. Washing does not eliminate from the outside of the food, those pathogens that can cause food poisoning. Bacteria are able to work their way from the outer layer of the food, in the folds, crevices, and tiny holes of vegetable and fruit skins. Since the use of most pesticides are unregulated in certain countries, thoroughly washing and then removing the skins will offer some extra protection from becoming ill after you have eaten food that has been contaminated with pesticides.

Only eat eggs if they have been well cooked. Regard any type of dairy product with suspicion. They tend to spoil quicker than other foods.

If you buy any type of meat, consider only freshly sliced slabs or hunks. Do not buy any type of meat that has been ground through machines, as they may not have been properly sanitized. Thoroughly cook the meat in order to kill any bacteria that may be present. Food-borne pathogens are highly susceptible to extreme temperatures of heat. Any type of improperly cooked food is one of the leading reasons people get infected with food-borne illnesses. Use your common sense and avoid eating food that has flies buzzing around it. Flies are known to be carriers of human and animal diseases.

Most visitors who travel to underdeveloped countries are routinely instructed by the travel agencies to take special precautions regarding any water you may consider drinking. It is highly recommended that you boil all drinking water before consuming it. If however, there is bottled water, soft drinks in bottles or cans, hot drinks like coffee or tea, these are usually considered to be the safest beverages for you to drink.

If it is not possible for you to boil the drinking water, you can add chlorine bleach or iodine to make the water safe enough to drink. You must remember that even though heat destroys harmful bacteria, ice does not. Using ice will in fact keep the germs alive and enable them to be transmitted to another host. If you are offered ice cubes, refuse them because the water frozen in the ice cubes could be contaminated.

Even if you are vigilant to the poor practices of food safety in certain countries, this does not mean a traveler will be exempt from food-borne bacteria. But by practicing preventive measures, it will certainly lessen your risk of an illness, which may require hospitalization.

Food Safety: Theory And Practice
by: Paul L Knechtges
publisher: Jones & Bartlett Learning, published: 2011-07-05
ASIN: 0763785563
EAN: 9780763785567
sales rank: 266733
price: $51.29 (new), $55.50 (used)

Written for graduate students or college seniors, Food Safety: Theory and Practice emphasizes a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to food safety. It covers important topics related to the prevention of foodborne illnesses and diseases with a farm-to-fork perspective. Each chapter starts with a set of learning objectives for the student and ends with a list of important references and websites for further study and research. Scientific principles that underpin food safety are introduced, and terminology is explained to facilitate comprehension by the student. In keeping with current trends, risk analysis and food safety management are stressed throughout the textbook. The writing style is concise and to the point, and the book contains hundreds of references, figures, and tables. Extremely well organized, this book can serve as the primary text for a food safety course, or it can serve as a background text for more specialized courses in food safety. Key topics include: Risk and hazard analysis of goods – covers risk assessment and hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) evaluations of food safety. Safety management of the food supply – provides a farm-to-fork overview of food safety, emphasizing the risks associated with each step in the food supply. Food safety laws, regulations, enforcement, and responsibilities – describes the major provisions, relationship, and hierarchy of laws and guidelines designed to ensure a safe food supply. The pivotal role of food sanitation/safety inspectors – including the interpretation of standards, problem solving and decision making, education of the food handling staff, and participation in foodborne illness outbreak investigations.

Global Food Safety Standards – Overview and Comparison of HACCP Based Standards
Listen to Bruce Becker, our resident Food Safety Standards expert and GMA-SAFE Program Director discuss the importance of Food Safety Standards. This 75 minute recorded Webinar is aimed at improving your understanding of food safety standards and certification programs. It provides a high-level introduction to help food retailers and suppliers understand the differences between the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognized food safety standards (BRC, SQF 2000, FSSC 22000/ISO 22000, IFS, Dutch HACCP code) as well as an overview of other food safety assessment schemes adopted in North America (Global GAP, GMA-SAFE). It will also give an overview of existing food safety training and certification programs available in the Americas. This recorded Webinar will discuss: – Background to food safety initiatives in the US – What is GFSI, its purpose and background – Food Safety Management Systems Overview and Comparison of the GFSI recognized Food Safety standards and assessment schemes adopted in the North America: BRC, SQF 2000, FSSC22000/ISO 22000, IFS, Dutch HACCP code as well as other food safety assessments such as Global GAP and GMA-SAFE – Benefits of Certification

Food Safety Abroad

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 at 8:25 AM and is filed under Health issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.