Question

please answer critical thinking questions and explain answer.

Tamika is planning a potluck picnic. She is worried about food safety, so she tries to apply the HAACP principles. Tamika decides to find out what people are bringing and perhaps sug- gest some different choices if the foods seem to present a significant risk. Edward ONeil Photography Inc./iStockphoto PICNIC MENU Chicken salad Fried chicken Tamales CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS Paul Johnson/iStockphoto © Michael Valdez/iStockphoto Raw vegetables and onion dip Chips and salsa Cheese and crackers List five foods on the picnic menu that could pose a risk of food-borne illness? Describe scenarios by which each of these might become contaminated? ► What steps could be taken during food preparation to reduce the number of bacteria contaminating these foods? What could Tamika do at the picnic to reduce the growth of bacteria already present in the food? After the picnic, which foods will be safe for Tamika to eat as leftovers? Apple pie Cookies Mushrooms stuffed with crab meat Shawn Gearhart/iStockphoto Fruit salad

Answer 1

1. On a picnic, one has to carefully choose food to prevent the food poisioning. From the above foods mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, fruit salad, raw vegetables and onion dips, tamales and chicken salad have the highest risk of food borne illness.

2. These above foods have different constituents and gets contaminated by different scenarios.

a) Mushrooms stuffed with crab meat : As mushrooms are type of edible fungus, rich in moisture content and highly prone to bacterial and fungal growth. Also crabs fall into category of the sea food with highest risk of food borne illness. When the food is packed into air tight containers, it leads to the anaerobic conditions and as the temperature reaches upto 30 degree Celsius, the growth of bacteria and fungus is accelerated.

b) Fruit salad: Fruits are rich in antioxidants and contain high amount of pectins and oxidases , which start degrading and the colour of fruit changes. This leads to souring and growth of acidic bacteria and fungus.Also the heavy cream which is used in salad is made of milk gets putrified.

c) Raw vegetables and onion dips: Vegetables contain high amount of minerals, vitamins and proteins. As the vegetables are chopped, it causes the wounding effect and release of wounding enzymes with watery material, acting as enriched media for microorganisms to grow.

d) Tamale: It is a mexican dish of seasoned meat and maize flour steamed or baked in maize husks. As maize husk contains a significant amount of moisture which is increased in steaming and baking . Thus, while its storage there is big risk of bacterial growth and stinky smell.

e) Chicken salad: Poultry is always known for the outbreak of food borne illness. So, for chicken salad there is always a risk of food borne illness , unless it is fresh,properly cooked.

Generally, bacterias like Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridim perfringes, Clostridium botulinum, Shigella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio spp., causes food poisioning in all the foods.

3. Critical steps to be taken while cooking in order to reduce the contamination of food from bacteria:

• First and foremost step is to choose the fresh material , whether it is vegetables, fruits, poultry or meat.
• Wash them with utmost care to remove all exogenous / surface impurities to increase the shelf life of food products. Dry them properly in the case of food items required.
• Whenever you need to cook for travelling try to cook in oil i.e., fry ( shallow or deep ) with little salt. This will act as inhibitor of bacterial growth by reducing the moisture content and salt mixed with peper will act as natural preservator by inhibiting the leaching of the food.
• For the meat, it is necessary to bake or cook them at a specific temperature , so thermometer could be used to see whether our instrument has reached on that temoerature or not.
• For the salads, instead of heavy creams, use vinegar and oil mixture to delay the growth of bacteria.
• The wash- dried veggies and fruits should not be cut and packed in different packets according to their softness. they should be cut at that time only.
• Or the second option is to carry dry ice packs along with the foods like vegetable and fruit salads to keep them fresh.

4 To reduce the growth of bacteria already present in the food at the picnic, Tamika could follow this easy tips:

• Firstly seggregate all the type of food.
• Keep the fruits and veggies in the cool temperature, in the ice box preferably to slow down leaching.
• Try to keep the mushrooms in casserole/ hot case to maintain the hot temperature, so that bacterial growth may be slow down.
• Keep tamale in air to prevent anaerobic growth of bacteria, which maize husk is more prone to.

5 Chips and salsa and cookies would be safe for her after the picnic , to eat as left overs because these are packed food with minimal moisture content and appropriate spice content which itself ia natural preservators.