The Impact of Cooling Rate on the Safety of Food Products as Affected by Food Containers

Abstract

In recent decades, the demand for ready-to-eat (RTE) food items prepared by the food catering sector has increased together with the value of cook-serve, cook-chill, and cook-freeze food products. The technologies by which foods are cooked, chilled, refrigerated for storage, and reheated before serving are of prime importance to maintain safety. Packaging materials and food containers play an important role in influencing the cooling rate of RTE foods. Food items that are prepared using improper technologies and inappropriate packaging materials may be contaminated with foodborne pathogens. Numerous research studies have shown the impact of deficient cooling technologies on the survival and growth of foodborne pathogens, which may subsequently pose a threat to public health. The operating temperatures and cooling rates of the cooling techniques applied must be appropriate to inhibit the growth of pathogens. Food items must be stored outside the temperature danger zone, which is between 5 and 60°C, in order to inhibit the growth of these pathogens. The cooling techniques used to prepare potentially hazardous foods, such as cooked meat, rice, and pasta, must be properly applied and controlled to ensure food safety. This paper critically reviews the effects of cooling and its relationship to food containers on the safety of RTE foods produced and sold through the food service industry.

Precision cooking for printed foods via multiwavelength lasers

“…Therefore, under normal ambient conditions, we can approximate the cooling rate as where T ( t ) is the temperature at time t , T a is the ambient temperature, and T 0 is the temperature at time t = 0 s. Based on the thermal properties of chicken 28 and the length scale of the heated sample we are assuming a Biot number that is <0.1. The rate at which food cools plays an important role in determining the population of microbial pathogens in food 29 . Therefore, by calculating the cooling rate we can more accurately predict the fluctuations in chicken temperature over time and fine tune laser parameters to ensure the food stays above a certain threshold for food safety and consumption.…”

A review of Canadian and international food safety systems: Issues and recommendations for the future

“…Ready-to-eat foods packaging (Coorey, 2018) EU, United States, Canada, international 3, likely driven by specific regulatory and consumer concerns about RTE food safety. HACCP standards can provide experience for food business operators Case Studies from United States/EU: Seafood; FSMA, Produce Safety Rule labeling (Neill & Holcomb, 2019) EU, United States 4, driven largely by case specific relevance to Canadian food businesses and their labeling needs and preferences, such as Canadian seafood or produce, and related risks of fraud.…”

Prevalence and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Salmonella Species

“…The study had few market sellers (5 %) that smoke the remaining fish aftermarket and store in the fridge, whiles 23 % also wrap the fish with paper and stored in the fridge but result from [34] and [35] report that, a suitable temperature associated with storage, appropriate processing steps, and the proper freezing system can prevent contamination. Salmonella species from wrapped smoked fish could result from the paper or polyethylene bags that are being used.…”