Complete 12 page APA formatted essay: Control and Maintenance of Food Safety in the Hospital Settings.Download file to see previous pages... With the implementation of such procedures, food-borne dise

Complete 12 page APA formatted essay: Control and Maintenance of Food Safety in the Hospital Settings.

With the implementation of such procedures, food-borne diseases the hospital can be prevented, and the patients would have more time to recuperate from their illnesses. Control and Maintenance of Food Safety in the Hospital Settings Food has been the fuel that drives the evolution of many creatures, and its presence in the lives of humans for thousands of years attest to its utmost importance in the creation of cultures and societies (Knechtges 2). The impact of food in human lives can be seen in the evolution of agriculture, of the invention of strategies in food storage, the creation of different kinds of cuisines, as well as letting people know the health and spiritual benefits of food (Roday xii). Even until today, most of the economics in any country discusses, at some point how the availability of food in a country could dictate the health and wealth of that nation (Knechtges 2). It can be safely said that humanity has been, and would always have strong ties with anything related to food. Because food is a commodity that all people are more than willing to partake of, the importance of assuring the buyers of their full satisfaction with such product needs to be maintained at a constant pace. Food is something that is eaten, enters the body after being broken down, and supplies energy to living cells, and so there is a much more profound need to assure that eating any food would not cause any untoward problems in the consumer’s body (Roday xii). Problems such as the compromise of the freshness and the safety of food stuffs could not only prove detrimental to a person’s health, but also to the whole industry of food as well, and if such problems continue to persist, the economy of the region or place that was affected by it could also suffer as well (Kutz 15). Because of the constant possibility of the food carrying additional stuffs that could range from rather harmless to deadly, in recent years the concept of keeping food as free from dangerous substances and harmful organisms became one of the strongest aims of the food industry (Hester and Harrison 25). Food Contaminants: Their Point of Entry and Effects When the word “contaminant” is heard, it can range from harmless things such as an ant baked into a load of bread, to things that could cause illnesses or even death, like bacteria or dirt. However, in terms of food safety, there are three recognized major contaminants that could compromise the safety of food in general. These contaminants can be physical contaminants such as leaf stalks or stones, chemical contaminants such as pesticides or toxins, or microbiological contaminants such as bacteria or worms (Lelieveld 61). The entry of such contaminants in food is more often than not unintentional, but due to lack of knowledge in handling foods, the addition of unwanted material in the food gets overlooked by persons involved in the industry. Physical contaminants such as leaf stalks, debris, soil or stone particles, bones or cartilages, misplaced plastic packaging, and other inert substances do not greatly cause harm to those that may consume them, except perhaps if the object is rather sharp (Lelieveld 62).