The Primary Causes of Food-Borne Illness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified the common factors that are primarily responsible for causing foodborne illness. These include:
Purchasing Food From Unsafe Sources:
- Purchasing foods from suppliers that have not been inspected by
the appropriate agency will put your customers at a higher risk of
food-borne illness as their processes have not been evaluated to
ensure that effective preventative measures have been taken. Please
be sure to purchase all foods and food ingredients from reputable
suppliers to ensure that you are providing the safest possible
product to your customers.
Failing to Cook Food Adequately:
- Failing to fully cook foods to the proper internal temperature
will not ensure that adequate minimum precautions have been taken
to destroy any disease causing pathogens that may be present.
Please be sure to fully cook all foods to the recommended internal
temperature to ensure that you are serving a safe product.
Holding Food at Improper Temperatures:
- Failing to hold hot foods at 135°F or above will allow bacteria
to uninhibitedly grow to levels in which disease transmission is
likely. Please be sure to hold hot foods at the proper temperature
to ensure that you are serving a safe product.
Using Contaminated Equipment:
- Failing to properly clean and sanitize equipment between
preparation of differing foods can spread disease causing pathogens
from one food to many. Please be sure to properly clean and
sanitize all preparation surfaces and equipment to ensure that
disease causing pathogens are not spread from one item or food type
to others.
Clayton County Board of
Health
Office of Environmental Health Services
685 Forest Parkway, Forest Park, GA 30297
Phone: (678) 610-7469 Fax: (770) 603-4874