Can anyone tell me, what's wrong with the picture above?
Just a bunch of students baking some bread right? Nothing bad about that.
Wrong.
Chances are, you've probably already guessed it from my title, that this blog post is going to be all about the term " ready to eat" food.
Let me first tell you more about this term that we frequently use, and how to handle food that is classified as such.
"Ready to eat food" refers to food that will not or no longer undergo cooking, and will be directly served to the customer in its current degree of preparation. For example, sandwiches and salads.
This also means that we have to be extra careful when handling such food, as there is no cooking process involved to kill off any microorganisms that might be transferred through handling.
As such it is necessary to take proper steps in making sure that we do not contaminate ready to eat items. We can do this by wearing disposable gloves and using clean utensils during handling. As well as making sure that our work tops are free from contaminants, such as detergents.
So back to the picture. What's wrong is that the people handling the bread are not wearing gloves or using kitchen utensils to do so. And this has resulted in contamination of the ready to eat bread, posing a risk to consumer health.
You wouldn't want to eat a salad that has been touched by the bare hands of a food handler would you? So don't expect your guests to do the same. Practice good food hygiene by always wearing clean disposable gloves and using clean utensils when handling ready to eat food, as it is pivotal to preventing food related illnesses.