Food Safety Worksheet, Article Review Example

Activity #1 – Food Sanitation

Read the following scenario and answer the questions.  Your answers should be on this worksheet and not on a separate document.  Answers should be in complete sentences with proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Katie and Aaron were going to attend a pot luck, buffet dinner style gathering at a park, on a warm summer day.  Katie prepared a beef and potato casserole and removed it from the oven at 1:00pm.  She kept it warm by wrapping the casserole in a towel.  At 3:00pm, Katie and Aaron arrived at the gathering and set the casserole out on the buffet table.  Dinner was scheduled to be served at 4:00pm, however, everyone was having such a good time, no one began eating until 6:00pm.  Katie made sure to taste the casserole before serving it and it seemed fine.

During dinner, Katie had a serving of her casserole but Aaron did not.  Later that evening, Katie awoke at 2:00am with abdominal pain and spent 3 hours in the bathroom with diarrhea.  She began to feel better around noon the next day after a few crackers and some tea.

Questions

Based on Katie’s symptoms:

1. What type of food borne illness was contracted? The food poisoning was most likely caused by Bacillus cereus. What ingredient is the most likely culprit for causing the food borne illness and why? The potatoes were most likely the culprit as the bacteria is commonly found on vegetables where it can form spores which are resilient to extreme temperatures such as cooking.  When the food begins to cool, the bacteria can become re-activated and multiply.  When consumed, vomiting and diarrhea occur within 5 hours or so.
2. What could have Katie done differently in her preparation of this dish to prevent and reduce the risk of food borne illness? Katie could have refrigerated her casserole until it was time for the party and re-heated it just before it was time to leave. Alternatively, she could have put off cooking it entirely until it was closer to the actual time of the party.
3. What precautions for avoiding food borne illness were ignored by the people at the party? The food should not have been left sitting out for such a long time. It should have been properly refrigerated until it was time to eat.
4. Why is consuming food at large gatherings so risky?  Food from pot lucks is all prepared by different people under unknown conditions. Some food may have been recently prepared and some, like the casserole, may have been prepared hours ahead of time and left out to sit.

Activity #2 – Food Additives

Answer the questions below on this worksheet.  Please answer in complete sentences.  For this activity you will need to choose one packaged food item in your house with a food additive in it.  Refer to Chapter 15.

 Questions

1. First, define the term food additive. A food additive is any substance that is added to food for the purpose of preserving it or improving its taste and appearance.
2. Give examples of two intentional food additives and their specific functions. Calcium diglutamate, a calium acid salt of glutamic acid, is a flavor enhancer. Ethyl methyl cellulose is a thickener, vegetable gum, and emulsifier. It is also a bulking and foaming agent.
3. Choose one packaged food item in your house and identify one food additive in the ingredient list.
4. What is the food additive? Aspartame
5. What are the additives’ functions or attributes in the food product you chose? It is an artificial sweetener.
6. Are there any known health risks from this food additive? It is a neurotoxin that has been known to cause a slew of side effects.  When ingested, it travels to the nervous system where it causes neurons to fire repeatedly until they die.  This can lead to neuro-degenerative conditions such as tinnitus.
7. How does this knowledge change how you feel about eating this food product? This does not make me want to consume any products containing this dangerous additive. Its benefits to not seem to outweigh the risks.
8. What is an easy way to decrease your consumption of food additives? Is this worth the effort?   Why or why not? There is a very simple and easy way to decrease and even eliminate additives from your diet, and that is to not eat processed food.  Eating unprocessed whole foods means spending more time in the kitchen, preparing food from raw vegetables, grains and meats.  This is a great way to eat healthier, become more involved in your health, and in avoiding illness due to badly prepared food since you have complete control over how the food is prepared and stored.