Remember to follow the four pillars of food safety; clean, separate, cook and cool. Clean your produce and food thoroughly after purchasing items from the store or harvesting them, if your food goods have cleaning instructions please read them first. Verify your equipment is clean before using. Seaparate items to verify all items appear as expected. Cook your food to ideal temperatures based on the food type, especially meat. Cool your food down to a reasonable temperature before ingesting. When in doubt, do not consume any food that appears questionable for any reason.
The cleanliness of your kitchen equipment is extremely important to food safety. Do not expect equipment to be uncontaminated after a single day's use. Thoroughly clean pots, pans and devices after use. Rusty or worn down equipment/utensils should be replaced, do not use chemical cleaners without first verifying that they are can be used on food-related surfaces. Local restaurant supply stores and representatives can often provide useful information regarding the maintenance and longevity of certain food prep / processing equipment.
Bacteria is one of the biggest concerns regarding food safety issues. These organisms can replicate quickly from common food safety missteps such as incorrect food temperature storage or poor cleanliness in food transport or preperation facilities. Common types of foodborne bacteria are e. Coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter bacterias. These bacterias are very serious and have frequently resulted in serious illness or even death, especially with young or elderly patients.
One of the biggest reasons you should separate and clean your food, especially foraged or harvested food products, is that consumption of undesired plant or food matter may occur. It is quite common that food products are consumed by individuals with unintended side effects due to foreign matter being present along with the food. On occasion this foreign matter may be poisonous to human beings. Some examples of these foods are inedible mushrooms, chemical treated plants, small synthetic polymers, etc.
Like bacteria, virus-based foodborned illnesses are some of the most common cases when it comes to food poisoning outbreaks. Certain viruses such as Norovirus can become quite serious and even spread beyond the stomach and intestines into more crucial organs such as the liver. Some of these viruses can be tracked back to contaminated produce, such as produce that has animal fecal matter on it.
On occasion, food products may contain parasites. Most food-related parasites are usually due to animal exposure and are zoonoses in nature. Some example of food-carried parasites are Nemotodes, more commonly known as roundworms, which catch a ride on certain foods such as produce and once ingested grow within their host to a larger size.
Some foods have natural toxins which may or may not affect human beings depending on their tolerance and alergic response. For example, peanuts can sometimes be deadly to certain individuals who have an immediate alergic reaction due to the chemical composition of the plant good. Certain alkaloids may be found in plant and animal matter that may have a mild toxicity to them.