Surfaces that touch food are called food-contact surfaces. Many of the utensils and equipment you use have food-contact surfaces. Plates, glasses, forks, and tongs are examples. You can contaminate these surfaces if you are not careful when handling them.
What is meant by a food contact surface? A food contact surface is any surface that may come in direct contact with exposed meat or poultry product. Examples would include conveyor belts, table tops, saw blades, augers, and stuffers.
Examples of food-contact surfaces include all utensils, knives, spoons, spatulas, plates, sinks, pots, pans, cutting boards, food processors, mixers, preparation tables, slicers, and thermometers, just to name a few.
The term "food-splash surface" is used in food safety guidelines to describe areas that should be kept clean to prevent cross-contamination. For example, a prep table where raw meat is placed can become a food-splash surface if juices from the meat drip onto nearby utensils or prepared food.
Surface swabbing involves taking a sample from a surface, such as a countertop, cutting board, or utensil, to determine the level of microbial contamination. This technique is important because surfaces that come into contact with food can harbor harmful bacteria that can cause foodborne illness.
Food-contact surfaces shall be corrosion-resistant when in contact with food. They shall be made of nontoxic materials and designed to withstand the environment of their intended use and the action of food, and, if applicable, cleaning compounds and sanitizing agents.
Surface swabs are tested for the most basic and widespread microbiological test, the “Standard Plate Count” (SPC), variously also called the aerobic plate count, total viable count, total microbial count – and various other names.
Surfaces that typically come into contact with food are called food-contact surfaces. Examples include utensils, cutting boards, flatware, tables, and highchairs.
Hand-contact surfaces
6.1 A hand-contact surface is any item of equipment that comes into contact with operatives' hands during any stage of the food preparation chain and where the presence of micro-organisms may well have an adverse effect on the safety or quality of food being handled.
Food contact surfaces comprise all surfaces that may come into contact with food products during production, processing, and packaging. These surfaces are typically made of stainless steel or some kind of plastic material, but contact surfaces may also consist of other materials like wood, rubber, ceramics, or glass.
A food contact surface must be cleaned and sanitized. What are the most effective cleaning methods for surface cleaning? The term Surface cleaning is used in the cleaning and food processing industries but is often confusing because it can be named differently in different industries/countries/companies.
Contact surface refers to the interface between two surfaces where stress is transmitted, and different contact algorithms such as node-node, surface-surface, and line-surface are used to analyze the interaction between them in computer simulations.
Food contact materials are any materials that (could) come into contact with food. Examples are production machines, conveyor belts, packaging materials and products like tableware, cutlery and cutting machines. Materials like plastic, paper, cardboard, glass, ceramics, metal and coatings are widely used.
All food-contact surfaces, including utensils and food-contact surfaces of equipment, shall be cleaned as frequently as necessary to protect against contamination of food. (1) Food-contact surfaces used for manufacturing or holding low-moisture food shall be in a dry, sanitary condition at the time of use.
This includes food packaging and its components, processing equipment, food preparation surfaces, or cookware. Other examples include substances that are added to or applied on packaging surfaces, such as adhesives, colorants, certain uses of antimicrobials, and antioxidants.
These surfaces can be furnished from a range of food-safe and/or food-grade materials, such as stainless steel, plastic, wood, rubber, glass, or ceramics. Although these materials may vary, all must be strong enough to stand up to frequent cleanings with harsh, acidic cleansers.
High-touch surfaces are surfaces that frequently come in contact with humans. They can include a number of areas including floors, walls, door knobs, and furniture. Frequent human interactions make high-touch surfaces potential reservoirs for microorganisms, which can serve as obstacles in environmental disinfection.
Explanation: A properly cleaned and sanitized food-contact surface has microorganisms reduced to an acceptable level.
Non Food Contact Surfaces are those surfaces that DO NOT come in direct contact. with food, but require frequent cleaning. These include: ∗ Floors, walls, ceilings, equipment exterior, cafeteria tables, service lines, etc. ∗ Non food contact surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis.
Baking cookies on a baking tray and then using it to bake dairy-free cookies. Using the same tongs to handle fish as you use to handle vegetables. Failing to wash your hands after handling nuts. Using a knife to spread peanut butter, not cleaning it properly, and then using it to spread jam.
FDA investigators use sterile sponges or swabs to collect these samples from both food contact surfaces (e.g., slicers, mixers, utensils or conveyors) and non-food contact surfaces (e.g., floors, drains, carts or equipment housing).
Food-contact surface swab testing is a microbiological technique designed to evaluate the cleanliness of places (including indirect contact surfaces) that touch food or some contaminated with food.
Rodac plates (RODAC = Replicate Organism Detection And Counting) can be used for microbiological control of all surfaces. For example for textiles (finished product inspection) or other end products and the control of folding tables, conveyor belts, trolleys, containers etc..
Oral swabbing is a non-invasive, inexpensive, and easy-to-use sampling strategy for infection diagnosis. An oral swab sample is collected by brushing a swab on a surface within the mouth, such as the tongue dorsum or buccal mucosa (inner cheek).