Question

A food worker washes her hands before taking a torn package of dry pasta from the food storage area. She dumps the pasta In the stainless pot to cook.

What hazard is most likely to make pasta unsafe to eat?

A. Torn packaging fragments

B. Metal leaching from the pot

C. Pathogens from the worker’s hand

D. Soap residue from the worker’s hands

Answer 1

A. Torn packaging fragments. Obviously since the package is torn, there are probably torn pieces of plastic in the bag, which means she could be putting torn plastic into the pot. Also she could have rats sice the bag is torn. This could provide other health problems.

Answer 2

The hazard that is most likely to make the pasta unsafe to eat is TORN PACKAGING FRAGMENTS.

During packaging and storage of processed foods there are different standards that needs to be maintained in order to avoid food contamination. Food contamination can occur either:

• From FOOD WORKERS or

• During packaging/storage.

The following will occur when proper hygiene is not maintained by FOOD WORKERS:

• Microbiological contamination: when FOOD WORKERS do not wash their hands before packaging processed foods like pasta, there is increased chances of cross contamination of the food by food poisoning bacteria like salmonella

• Chemical contamination: this occurs when there is improper packaging and storage of the processed food. The food is likely to be contaminated with PACKAGING FRAGMENTS when torn as a result of poor storage.

Therefore the hazard that is most likely to make the pasta unsafe to eat is TORN PACKAGING FRAGMENTS. That is option A