HACCP on ice cream

Other than the 3 CCPs i mentioned in my previous post, i found out that flavoring the ice cream mix is also a CCP.

- CCP: Flavoring mix
- Hazards: Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella
- Critical limits: No pathogenic microorganisms
- Monitoring: Supplier guarantee and good hygiene practice
- Corrective actions: Changing supplier / discarding
- Records: Delivery checks, QAQC
- Verification: Review of suppliers, review records

Justifications:
- Addition of ingredients to pasteurized mix constitutes a critical control point.
- There is no further lethal process is given to the product.
- Thus, important that all operations at this point to be done in a sanitary manner and that ingredients are free of pathogenic microorganisms.
- Most likely pathogens to be encountered at this point are Listeria mono-cytogenes and salmonella.

In light of the Japan earthquake causing possible leakages of radiation from nuclear plants, AVA has been monitoring food imports from Japan to ensure that they are safe for consumption. They are being tested for radioactive contaminants. Four samples of vegetables imported from Japan were found to contain radioactive contaminants. AVA will dispose off the affected vegetables in an appropriate manner. To further assure the consumer, MOH stated that the short term consumption at these detected levels of radioactive contaminants would not pose a health hazard. AVA imposes a “hold-and test” programme before releasing the other imports into the market for sale to ensure that they are safe. They will suspend the import of products that are found to contain radioactive contaminants.

Isn't it great that we have AVA to monitor our food supply with stringent measures? Without them, we would be facing huge risk of food borne illnesses and so on. Another case highlights the product recall announced by US FDA regarding the brand "Skippy" peanut butter containing Salmonella. However, none of the batches that contain that hazard has been imported into Singapore. Thus, consumers don't have to worry about purchasing that in our country. However, they are advised to discard off those that are bought outside of Singapore for food safety purposes.

hygiene checks

Went on a Hygiene inspection today for my SIP with my in charges to high school today. It was quite an eye opener and realise that it is important to educate and emphasize on food hygiene to the vedors as they are the direct handlers of food. We've identified several good and bad hygiene practices and my teacher just sent me a checklist when doing health inspection and what we had to look out for when visiting the canteens. Will be doing inspection in school canteens soon. Can't wait to start. Well, Bain Marie is very important in food hygiene yet many of us do not take that into consideration to keep food within the safety zone.

Today, I was attached to a hygiene executive named Steven. His purpose of visiting Changi General Hospital this morning, is to give an audit of the food services department and to see if there's any improvement that the staff can take to provide better services to the patients.
My first impression of him is like a very fatherly guy. And definitely, he knows that me and the other girl are going to learn from him so when he's doing his checks, he's very focused and detailed even the small things. We walked around the whole of the kitchen including storage area, warehouse and the preparation areas. I would say he taught us more life skills instead. He shows us how a hygiene executive should behave and how important good stock rotation and date coding are to a food service area. Mr Steven made the entire process very fun and interesting though he bombed us with many questions. He showed us the side that hygiene executives can be as friendly as anyone else and there's fun in work life too. There maybe some awkward moments but our conversations ease that tense atmosphere. Still, he definitely aroused our interests in becoming a hygiene executive too. Can consider(:
P/S forget Mr Steven's surname oops.

HACCP on ice cream

Since I'm attached to TP to make ice cream, I have done research and found out some of the CCPs in making ice cream.

- First CCP: Pasteurization
- Hazards: Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella.
- Critical limits: 83degreesC for three seconds.
- Monitoring: Thermometer and flow meter
- Corrective actions: Re-pasteurization
Records: Temperature and time (flow)
Verification: Review records

- Second CCP: Aging
- Hazards: Recontamination
- Critical limits: 5degreesC
- Monitoring: Thermometer
- Corrective actions: Re-pasteurization or discarding
- Records: Temperature
- Verification: Review records

- Third CCP: Labeling
- Hazards: Allergens
- Critical limits: Correct packaging
- Monitoring: Visual control
- Corrective actions: Discarding
- Records: Packaging checks
- Verification: Review records

A couple of days back in my catering kitchen, there was an incident where a snail was found in one of the patient's salad dish. it was still alive and moving thus it was noticed immediately. As it was sealed, the plate was returned back to us in its original state. My colleague jokingly commented, "wahh so fresh?fresh from the garden!?" we burst out laughing. Another said that it should be an "escargot salad". Lol. How it wasnt spotted by the food handlers and during the plating line was possibly because the plating line goes very fast as there are thousands of meals to be served and since its mass production, the food handlers didn manage to wash it off thoroughly.