Home Food Safety Facts for this Summer
這個夏季的家居食物安全貼士
1. Despite the incident of Rice Dumplings – it is still safer to buy food from reputable manufacturers who would have much more food safety management systems in place.
雖受上月不良生產商稯的問題影響, 市民可安心向有信譽及有完善的食品安全管理系統的食品製造商購買。
2. Hong Kong summers are hot and bacteria can grow at a very rapid rate depending on the nature of your food – so if you are not sure about whether your food support rapid bacteria growth, best not letting your cooked food sit in room temperature for more than 2 hours before refrigerating.
炎熱的夏季，可令細菌在某些食物上快速生長。如你在處理食物保存上有疑惑，最好將熟食放進雪櫃內，不要讓它處於室溫多於兩小時。
3. Food that are intrinsically safer (not supporting rapid bacterial growth) are those with low water content (e.g. hard cheeses); high salt (e.g. ham); high acid (e.g. pickled vegetable). But even these should not be left for more than 4 hours because they may not be that low in water content; not enough salt or acidity (would not know unless tested in a laboratory).
某些食品(不適合細菌生長)含低水份(例子:硬芝士)、高鹽份( 例子: 火腿)、高酸度 (例子:酸菜)。但即使是這類食物亦不宜放在室溫多於四小時，因為不經過化驗是不能知道當中的水份、鹽份及酸性的程度是否足夠。
4. When re-heating cooked food, despite having been cooked once – treat it like raw food and cook to a safe temperature (minimum internal temperature of 75C) since much growth can happen even in the refrigerator (normal environmental bacteria can grow at a wide range of temperatures).
當翻熱熟食時，應示作處理生食物一樣，煮至安全溫度，(即中心溫度達最少75C)。即使在雪櫃內也有很多隱藏地方可令細菌生長。
5. A common misconception: “Freezing can reduce bacteria to a safe level”. This is wrong: freezing is actually one way of preserving bacterial cultures in the laboratory!
一個常見的謬誤：「雪藏可以令細菌減至安全水平。」- 事實上，雪藏是實驗室內一種保存細菌的方法!
6. Defrosting: two main approaches – i) fast and warm or ii) slow and cool. But the objective is to completely defrost to avoid improper cooking from a still-frozen core.
解凍有兩個主要方法：一)快及暖，二)慢及涼。無論任何一種方法，最終目標是確保雪藏食品外內是完全解凍、防止在煮食時未能熟透。
Dr. Park Ng is a microbiologist by training and has had over 12 years of experience in food safety, training and laboratory work. Previously with the Dept Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) – Dr. Ng has provided consultation to many regional food industries from the retail level to industrial manufacturer. His specialty is in food safety systems and has been involved with HACCP consultation, implementation and research since 1996.
Dr. Ng has external appointments from many organizations: Honorary Associate Professor at HKU, Adjunct Associate professor at HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education, Technical Advisor for the Hong Kong Food Council and Technical Assessor for the Hong Kong Government’s Laboratory Accreditation Scheme. His professional qualifications include Chartered Biologist with the Institute of Biology (UK), Member of the Institute of Food Science & Technology (UK) and Royal Institute of Public Health.
吳子柏博士從事食品安全的研究工作已十多年,特別在於微生物和HACCP的題目上。HazMap
這套食品安全和HACCP軟件是他和 William O’Dwyer 先生用他們共二十多年的食品安全經驗一起讚寫的。
吳子柏博士是香港大學微生物系的名譽副教授，香港大學專業進修學院健康及應用科學學部的客助副教授。香港食品委員會的技術顧問，香港認可處實驗所認可計劃的專家評審員。
吳博士也是英国生物學院特許生物學家, 英国皇家公共衛生學院和食品科學技術學院的
會員。
Dr. Park Ng
Honorary Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology
Faculty of Medicine
The University of Hong Kong
Tel: +852 94232805
Fax: +852 28551241
E-mail:spng@hku.hk
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