Blog-8: FAT TOM

http://paymoreeatless.blogspot.com/p/food-safety.html

FAT TOM is an acronym for conditions that bacteria and other contaminants thrive and grow in food. The “F” stands for food because the different types of foods are at different levels of risks for contaminations. The “A” stands for acid because bacteria enjoy slightly acidic environments. The two “T’s” stand for time and temperature because the longer food sits in the temperature danger zone of in-between 40^°F and 140^°F the bacteria can reproduce quickly. Foods that sit in this temperature danger zone longer than three hours should be thrown out and not consumed. The “O” stands for oxygen because bacteria needs oxygen to live, so food should be stored in containers that do not allow oxygen to enter. The “M” stands for moisture because bacteria needs a certain amount of liquid to live and reproduce. Food can be contaminated three ways. The first way is chemically. Chemical contaminants can be present in foods mainly as a result of the use of agrochemicals, such as residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs, contamination from environmental sources, cross-contamination or formation during food processing, migration from food packaging materials, contamination by natural toxins. Pesticides are becoming more and more heavily used in agriculture and thus contaminates the food. Veterinary drugs are given to livestock on farms and then remain in waste that is used in fields as fertilizer and residue like pesticide residue gets in the food. Environmental contaminants that stem from the air, water or soil can enter crops through photosynthesis and thus stay inside the plant and pass through the food chain. Chemical compounds such as toxins in plastic that are found in the food processing and food packaging processes can enter food and containment ate it. Certain bacterial and plant toxins that are naturally released can also enter food and thus contaminate it. This is one of the most serious ways food can be contaminated. Food can also be contaminated physically. These physical hazards result from some careless and lazy behaviors that leave materials inside food. Physical contaminants include dirt, hair, nail polish flakes, insects, broken glass, nails, staples, plastic fragments, bones or bits of packaging. Biological contaminates are the ones that are most commonly thought about with contaminated food. These are the microorganism that enter food and make the consumer sick. The five main biological contaminates are bacteria, virus, protozoa, fungus/yeast and parasites.

http://www.livescience.com/51641-bacteria.html

Bacteria are the most common because they are found almost everywhere. Bacteria can live in many types of environments and can be helpful or very dangerous depending on the strand. FAT TOM is created for how to deal with bacteria.  

http://time.com/14705/giant-virus-in-permafrost/

Virus are not made of cells, do not need energy to exist and only can reproduce using other living cells like human cells. So for them to make copy of themselves they must use living cells like human or animal cells. They cannot grow and divide on food, but they can be transmitted to a human body by food or water or contaminated surfaces. People can also transmit them to food and to other people, in addition to food-contact surfaces. Virus illustrate the importance of good hygiene in food preparation.  Parasites live off of a host, and can live in recently deceased and poorly prepared animals and transmit to humans. 

http://americanholidayaccommodation.com/treatments-for-yeast-infection/

Fungi’s and yeasts can omit dangerous toxins. The top five causes of foodborne illness are holding food at wrong temperature, cooking foods at wrong temperatures, using equipment that is cross-contaminated, failure of personal hygiene and food purchased from unsafe sources. Hepatitis A and Norovirus are the most common diseases that are transferred from people to food. Hepatitis A’s source is human feces and often is transferred by unwashed fingers to food and equipment. also found in water, ready-to-eat food and shellfish from contaminated water. Cooking does not destroy hepatitis A. The prevention measures are washing hands, not touching ready-to-eat food with bare-hands and purchasing shellfish from a safe source. Staff who have jaundice should be removed from the operation. Norovirus is very similar to hepatitis A.