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Life saving tips
Our today’s post will answer this common question: Which food item is ideal for bacterial growth
And you may be surprised after you finish reading this post, as our answer will not speak about a specific food material.
Because it is more important to know that bacteria need to be grown in some conditions.
If bacteria found the ideal conditions, it will grow on whatever food material.
Our post will cover the following elements:
Most common food bacteria
In a previous post we mentioned which bacteria cause the greatest harm in the food industry
If you have time, you can read more about it in this link.
By the way, we can remind you that the most common bacteria that can grow in food and cause harmful effects are:
Salmonella: which is commonly found in raw meat and poultry.
E. coli (Escherichia coli): can cause severe illness
and are commonly linked to undercooked ground beef and contaminated vegetables
Campylobacter: on raw poultry, this bacteria can cause unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms.
Listeria monocytogenes: This hardy bacteria can grow even at refrigeration temperatures and can be found in contaminated raw vegetables
Staphylococcus aureus (Staph): Often associated with improper food handling practices
It can cause food poisoning leading to severe complecations.
The previously mentioned spices can cause a variety of health effects which can even cause death.
More than 400,000 deaths occur annually due to foodborne illnesses worldwide. According to WHO statistics.
which food item is ideal for bacterial growth
Actually, any type of food can allow bacterial growth if this food material was found in the ideal conditions for bacterial growth.
Bacteria need some factors to be able to multiply freely inside our foods.
Remember the following four factors:
- Proper moisture
Bacteria loves high moist environment, it’s growth can be better in foods with high water content.
Foods like vegetables, fruits, raw meat, poultry, eggs and cooked rice can provide the needed moisture for bacterial growth.
- Nutrition for bacteria
For sure bacteria like all other living organisms, need nutrition to grow.
So, foods rich in protein, carbohydrates and fats can be considered great nutrition ground for the bacteria.
- Proper PH for bacterial growth
The majority of bacteria prefer a neutral or slightly acidic environment.
But some others can tolerate a wider range of PH.
This means that poultry and raw meat which are neutral in PH are great host for a wide variety of bacteria.
And this can be a key factor for selection of antibacterial agents and detergents.
Which are crated in alkaline nature.
- Storage temperature
Remember what we discussed about the bacterial danger zone ???
It is the ideal temperature in which bacteria can grow rapidly.
Between 40 to 140 F (4-60 C)
Food handlers need to keep food material always away from these temperature zone
Either when they store foods in refrigerators, or when they are cooking foods.
how can we control bacterial growth in food.
Many practices can be followed that can prevent the biological hazards in food industry, in this post you can find many of them
And we can mention some of them here too.
- Temperature control can ensure that our food material are away from the danger zone.
- Proper hand washing using soap and hot water can prevent the transfer of harmful bacteria.
- Proper storage is a great way to control bacterial growth.
We mean separating foods from each others, ensuring proper storage temperature, ensuring proper containment for the foods.
- Avoid cross contaminations by using the cutting board color chart recommended by HACCP.
- Using proper detergents to clean the food preparation surfaces and food storage area can help killing harmful bacteria.
These are only some examples that can help in preventing bacterial growth.
Related posts
After answering the main question for today: Which food item is ideal for bacterial growth ?
remember to read also some other food safety posts from here
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