Food safety and the new rules for restaurants and suppliers
By: Lia Contesso
Submitted: 2011-10-25 03:59:16 | Word Count: 532
Regulation on transportation and storage of food is becoming ever more strict because of the growing level of exotic product exchanges between countries but also because of the evidence from a recent study in the European Union that shows how as much as 11% of the products tested in the sectors of supply and distribution of food products, restaurants and hotels, did not comply with current legislation.
Raw fish is a clear example of the importance that food safety has gained during the last decade for both providers and restaurants. The proliferation of exotic restaurants and the growing demand for dishes based on raw fish like sushi and sashimi have motivated new regulations in several countries by which all fish must be frozen for at least 24 hours before it can be served without being cooked to clients, in order to eliminate the anisakis parasite. This regulation does not only affect Japanese and other ethnic restaurants but also local ones that serve pickled and marinated fish like Italian sardines and Spanish anchovies.
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Such measures apply not only to fish but also to other kinds of food nourishments like seafood in all restaurants, hotels and food operations like supply and logistics, a particularly delicate phase of the process because of the changes in temperature and the unstable conditions of transportation.
Transport conditions are controlled with special care in order to maintain the optimal temperature that guarantees no enzymes and harming microorganisms will develop. Commodities transportation is always a critical moment since meteorological conditions don't always help, especially during the summer, when it is particularly important that the machinery and equipment work at their maximum performance levels.
Fishing frozen products for example should travel at a temperature of -18 degrees and not reach at any point during handling between supports temperatures over -15 degrees. In the case of frozen meat, travel temperature should be -1 degrees and maximum tolerance -7.
Arrival at destination does not mean the end of the logistic process. It signals, on the contrary, the start of a new phase of the chain, that of storage and preservation of food. The chain includes all the stages between the closure of the product package to the sale: transportation, storage in refrigerators and freezers and showcase. All three of them must maintain the product in the original conditions and protect it from temperature and humidity.
Raw meat, fish, chicken and vegetables must be stored between 0 and 4 degrees of temperature but during different periods of time that should not exceed 3 days in certain cases. Cold cuts, cheese and eggs have an optimal transportation and storage temperature of 6 degrees.
In Italy it is the n. 155/1997 legislative Decree that sets the general food safety rules along the whole production, distribution and storage process. Moreover, the ISO 9000 normative and the HACPP system provide quality and hygiene control frameworks for prevention of health issues within the firms, touristic structures and restaurants occupied in the food and beverage industry.
