How are microorganisms transmitted through food and their prevention and control?

Answer 1

The nuber one way for microorganisms to enter your food, according to the CDC, is through bare hand contact with food. Foods that are ready to eat should follow the "40F-140F" rule. This is a way of stating the "danger zone" for microbial growth. Ready to eat foods should be kept either below 40 or above 140 to keep the microbes from "growing". I don't know how technical you want me to go with this, but basically all living things have a life cycle. In order to help or hurt growth you must know the life cycle. The life cycle of most microbes goes like this: Lag, Log, Static, Death.

Lag phase is marked by the microoragnisms adjusting to their environment. During this phase microorganisms are sluggish and may not reproduce as quickly.

Log Phase is marked by a rapid growth of new cells by asexual reproduction, Mitosis. Mitosis is the making of two separate viable cells from one cell. As you can see this is why it is called a log phase, 1 cell becomes 2 becomes 4 and so on until you have a whole bunch of cells. This is usually the time you will show symptoms if the microorganisms are pathogenic(disease Causing).

Static Phase is marked by microorganisms numbers remaining fairly constant(same number dying as dividing). This will be the illness phase of the host if the microorganisms are pathogenic.

Death Phase is marked by a decline in the numbers of microorganisms. This would be the recovery period of the host. You may still have symptoms and will be contagious, but you may start feeling better.

I said all of that to say this. Keep the microorganism out of log phase to control them. Wash your fresh food before consumption. cook all food throughly. Remember to wash your hands before preparing meals or touching food. Remember that a sanitizer is just that, it is not a substitue for cleaning. All a sanitizer does is reduce the number of microorganisms on a hard surface.