<p>“Meals prepared outside the home have been implicated in up to 70 per cent of food poisoning outbreaks, making them a vital focus area for food safety professionals,” says Ben Chapman, assistant professor and food safety specialist in family and consumer sciences at NCSU, which led the study.<br /><br />Researchers placed eight small video cameras in unobtrusive spots around kitchens that volunteered to participate in the study.<br /><br />“We found a lot more risky practices in some areas than we expected,” Chapman says. For example, most previous studies relied on inspection results and self-reporting by food handlers that found that cross-contamination was relatively infrequent. But Chapman’s study found approximately one cross-contamination event per food handler per hour. <br />In other words, the average kitchen worker committed eight cross-contamination errors, which have the potential to lead to illnesses, in the course of the typical eight-hour shift. Cross-contamination occurs when pathogens, such as Salmonella, are transferred from a raw or contaminated source to food that is ready to eat: For example, using a knife to cut raw chicken and then using the same knife to slice a sandwich in half. Cross-contamination can also result from direct contact, such as raw meat dripping onto vegetables that are to be used in a salad.<br /><br />“Each of these errors would have been deemed a violation under US Food and Drug Administration Food Code inspection guidelines,” Chapman says. The study also confirmed the long-held supposition that more food-safety mistakes are made when things are busier in the kitchen.<br /></p>
<p>“Meals prepared outside the home have been implicated in up to 70 per cent of food poisoning outbreaks, making them a vital focus area for food safety professionals,” says Ben Chapman, assistant professor and food safety specialist in family and consumer sciences at NCSU, which led the study.<br /><br />Researchers placed eight small video cameras in unobtrusive spots around kitchens that volunteered to participate in the study.<br /><br />“We found a lot more risky practices in some areas than we expected,” Chapman says. For example, most previous studies relied on inspection results and self-reporting by food handlers that found that cross-contamination was relatively infrequent. But Chapman’s study found approximately one cross-contamination event per food handler per hour. <br />In other words, the average kitchen worker committed eight cross-contamination errors, which have the potential to lead to illnesses, in the course of the typical eight-hour shift. Cross-contamination occurs when pathogens, such as Salmonella, are transferred from a raw or contaminated source to food that is ready to eat: For example, using a knife to cut raw chicken and then using the same knife to slice a sandwich in half. Cross-contamination can also result from direct contact, such as raw meat dripping onto vegetables that are to be used in a salad.<br /><br />“Each of these errors would have been deemed a violation under US Food and Drug Administration Food Code inspection guidelines,” Chapman says. The study also confirmed the long-held supposition that more food-safety mistakes are made when things are busier in the kitchen.<br /></p>
