FSA Group 2

Friday, 23 December 2016

Pearlyn Chan (16)

3.1 provide 1-3 pictures that illustrate the hygienic aspects (both positive and negative) of the food stall. Identify the aspects and add captions or descriptions. AND 3.2 state hygienic aspects of the stall. Explain why they are good / bad practices. Elaborate potential food safety problems related to the cleanliness issues or lack of hygiene standard.

The display pastry case

(Food hygiene aspect)

The temperature of the pastry case is in the danger zone (5 - 60 ) which promotes the growth of microorganism such as Clostridium perfringens, hence it is noting a good practice of food hygiene. The increase in temperature could have been due to the frequently opening of the case to pick up foods that are displayed there. Although they offer to heat up the foods, some customers do it not wish to heat the food up which may result in them ingesting the bacteria that has grown on the food product, causing in foodborne illness.

Food handler cutting a croissant without cutting board

(Food hygiene & preparation aspect)

The food handler is using disposable gloves to hold the food. This is a good practice as it reduces the risk of cross contamination. If gloves were not used in this case and the risk of transferring microorganisms such as Staphylococcus aureus increase which may result in the consumer contracting foodborne illness. However, there is no cutting board placed underneath the food. Using a cutting board to cut would be safer than free hand cutting as it minimises the risk of injuring oneself which may result in absentism of employees in some serious cases.

The cover for the grab and go fridge remains open even when there is no customer picking up food. This is a bad practice and it increase the risk of the temperature of the fridge entering the temperature danger zone which promotes the growth of microorganisms.

3.3 grade (A,B,C,D) the premise using the given checklist

Total points is 134/180 which resulted in 74.4%, grade B

3.4 Recommend at least 2 improvements for a better grade

To address the situation pointed out in the first picture, food spread out into different fridges to reduce the amount of foods items so that it would be quicker to bring the temperature down if the temperature reaches the temperature danger zone

In point 2, the employees can place a cutting board and cut the food on it instead of cutting it free hand to prevent injury or accident to the employees

For the issues pointed out in picture 3, the grab and go refrigerator could make it such that the cover is a sliding glass door so more customers would close the fridge. Another idea could be to place a sign over the plastic cover to remind customers to pull down the plastic or employees could do a frequent check of the cover is down or not.

This stall has relatively good hygiene and food safety practices .For example while they cook large batches of hokkien mee ahead of time and reheat before serving, they store it at above 60 degrees celcius and refry it thoroughly before serving. They also cook each batch every 20 minutes to prevent bacteria growth on the ready to eat food. As for the prawns and squid, they pre cook them and store them in the chiller, only adding them into the noodles during the refrying process. While this is a good practice of storing these high risk ingredients in the chiller, it is important to note that it should be heated sufficiently so that these foods are up to temperature of above 60c to prevent food bourne illness. The food is served on banana leaves. While this may be traditional it is important that the stall ensures that it is free of any pathogens and stored properly before serving food on them, which there was no evidence of them doing so, hence it is an area of improvement.

FILE REF
NAME OF INSPECTIONS OFFICER : YOUR NAME jerald
TYPE OF FOOD SHOP : hokkien mee
NO.	CRITERIA	SCORE	REMARKS
	HOUSE KEEPING
1	PREPARATION AREA	/10
	a) Floors	5
	b) Walls	8
	c) Utensils/Crockery	8
	d) Preparation Table	8
	e) Exhaust Systems	6
	f) Sinks/Wash Hand Basin	8
	g) Refuse Management	9
	h) Overall Tidiness of Preparation Area	10
2	OTHER ASPECTS (if any)
	a) Pest Control System
	HYGIENE
3	PERSONAL HYGIENE
	a) Conditions of Gloves or Tongs	9
	b) Clean Clothing	10
	c) Personal Cleanliness (Finger nails, Hair, etc)	9
4	FOOD HYGIENE
	a) Food Properly Protected	9
	b) Conditions of Implements
	c) Cleanliness of Refrigerators/Chillers
	d) Proper Storage of Cooked and Uncooked Food	7
	e) Storage Temperature Control System
	f) Cleanliness of other equipment (eg. Dispensers, Ovens, Dish-Washers etc)
5	FOOD TRANSPORTATION (if any)
	a) Clean Interior
	b) Provision of Containers / Trolleys
	c) Clean Delivery Equipment
6	AUTOMATION – BONUS (if any)
	a) Provision of Ice-making Machine
	b) Provision of other automated machineries (exclude Drinks Dispenser)
7	OTHERS – BONUS (if any)
	a) In-House training
	b) Incentive/Demerit System
	c) Central Cleaning System
Total		106/130
%		81.5
Grade		B

To improve their grade, the stall should ensure that their ready to serve condiments are stored properly. For example their pre cut limes should be plated with tongs instead of bare hands and their sambal should be covered when left outside for customers to take for themselves to prevent pest or foreign objects contaminating it. Lastly, it was noted that while the staff were wearing gloves, they handled money with gloved hands and this should be improved.

Thursday, 22 December 2016

Food Safety Applications Practical 1

3.1 Hawker handling food with tongs.

3.2 The food display counter
This hawker centre store sells economic bee hoon and nasi lemak with a variety of sides that the customers can choose.

From picture 3.1 (although not very clear), the hawker was handling the food with tongs while serving the customers. This is good as there is no direct contact on the food, preventing contamination. However, on the other hand, her hand was holding the takeaway packaging without putting on a glove. This can potentially contaminate the packaging should the hawker not wash their hands prior to the service. This could result in Staphylococcus aureus that can be found in our skin to be transferred onto the food. I have also noticed that they do not wear hairnets or face mask when handling the food, this could lead to contamination if one of the hawker is sick or hair falls into the food.

From picture 3.2. it depicts their food display counter. The food counter seems like it does not have a build-in food warmer. Thus, their food may get cold fast and be prone to the temperature danger zone. This could result in spore-forming Clostridium perfringens to form in the food that has been left out in the temperature danger zone for too long.

In terms of cleanliness, the store has done a good job. The store is very organized and there is no litter or dirt in sight. The food racks were at least 30 cm above the ground level to prevent pests from contaminating. Although the store does not have a food warmer to keep their food at a >65°C,

They only prepare the next batch of food when there is only 10% of what is left. This would prevent the food from turning stone cold should there be no customers around.

NEA Grading System Checklist

FILE REF
NAME OF INSPECTIONS OFFICER : YOUR NAME Choo Yan Wen
TYPE OF FOOD SHOP : Economic Bee Hoon Shop
NO.	CRITERIA	SCORE	REMARKS
	HOUSE KEEPING
1	PREPARATION AREA
	a) Floors	4/5
	b) Walls	4/5
	c) Utensils/Crockery	4/5
	d) Preparation Table	4/5
	e) Exhaust Systems	4/5
	f) Sinks/Wash Hand Basin	4/5
	g) Refuse Management	4/5
	h) Overall Tidiness of Preparation Area	5/5
2	OTHER ASPECTS (if any)
	a) Pest Control System	-
	HYGIENE
3	PERSONAL HYGIENE
	a) Conditions of Gloves or Tongs	3/5	Only tongs
	b) Clean Clothing	4/5
	c) Personal Cleanliness (Finger nails, Hair, etc)	3/5	No hair nets
4	FOOD HYGIENE
	a) Food Properly Protected	3/5
	b) Conditions of Implements	2/5
	c) Cleanliness of Refrigerators/Chillers	3/5
	d) Proper Storage of Cooked and Uncooked Food	3/5
	e) Storage Temperature Control System	3/5
	f) Cleanliness of other equipment (eg. Dispensers, Ovens, Dish-Washers etc)	4/5
5	FOOD TRANSPORTATION (if any)
	a) Clean Interior	-
	b) Provision of Containers / Trolleys	-
	c) Clean Delivery Equipment	-
6	AUTOMATION – BONUS (if any)
	a) Provision of Ice-making Machine	-
	b) Provision of other automated machineries (exclude Drinks Dispenser)	-
7	OTHERS – BONUS (if any)
	a) In-House training	-
	b) Incentive/Demerit System	-
	c) Central Cleaning System	-
Total		61/85
%		71.7
Grade		B

Grading System

Grade A: >85%

Grade B: 70% – 84%

Grade C: 50% - 69%

Grade D: <50%

Based on the NEA grading system checklist, the store is graded a B.

To have an improvement to the store, they should invest in a food warmer to keep their food warm at all times and prevent microorganism growth as this could risk their business if anyone gets sick. Secondly, they should start putting on facial masks and hair nets to prevent any contamination from the mouth or hair falls. Although they are using tongs when handling the food, they should also put on a pair of glove as a safety measure. Lastly, they should clean their refrigerators and freezers regularly so that food don't get cross contaminated.