Wednesday, October 12, 2011

module 3 Question 10

Determine issues related to the storage of food items and list potential solutions.

Meat storage issues:

· Meat needs to be kept cool & dry to keep it from going off & to keep various bacteria from developing on it which can be harmful to humans & animals.

· Meat needs to be used as soon as possible because it gets old & dries up very quickly. You waste a lot of money throwing old meat away where you could have used it.

· If the meat is not stored in a sealed off freezer it gives pests like rodents time to eat what they can & they could pass of their diseases to the meat.

· Meat that is opened to air can attract flies which lay larvae in it. Meat with maggots it is a health risk for the animals.

· Always store you’re meat separately from other food items like fruit & milk this could cause cross contamination.

Solutions:

é Always ensure that you have a big enough freezer to keep all you’re meat cold & fresh.

é Never buy a over load of meat that you aren’t going to use in about a week’s time, If you do make sure you use it in one or another way as not to waste it.

é Always make sure your freezer is sealed very good, Make routine checks to establish that it is sealed off good to keep out pests.

é Ensure that all the staf knows where all the storage item are kept to ensure no cross contamination.

Fruit & vegetable storage issues:

Fruit & vegetables have a longer shelf life when kept cool;

Fruits & veggies can be susceptible to pests like, Rodents, Mould & flies.

Once again buying an over load of stock & having it rot is a waste of money.

Solutions:

J Keep these items in the perfect temperature. If it is to hot they will shrivel up, get over ripe or just rot, when it is freezing they will get frozen & once frozen all the nutrients will be lost.

J Keep all you’re fruit & veggies closed away from any pests & do regular checks to make sure there are no entry points for pests.

J Buy just the right amount of stock each month & and use it accordingly.

Dry food storage issues:

© Items like Denkavite powder, Pig row powder, Game pellets or mielies tend to have a longer shelf life so you don’t have to worry too much about it going off or getting old too soon.

© Mould or fungus could be a big problem when items like these get wet or moised.

© Pests like Rodents & mealworms love to eat these food items, it can become invested with bacteria or larvae & become uneatable for the animals.

Solutions:

§ Buying too much of this food stock is not a problem because it will not expire that quickly as meat or fruits.

§ Always ensure that the food items are in a sealed off holder or area to keep it dry & cool.

§ Keep the foods away from pests by sealing it off or putting out poison for the rodents to keep their numbers down.

Milk Storage issues:

Ø Milk doesn’t have a long shelf life when opened & not completely sealed from airborne bacteria. Open milk can get sour within a matter of a week.

Ø Warm milk gets sour so much faster because bacteria grows faster in high temperatures.

Ø Cross contamination is also a big risk to your animals.

Solutions:

µ Keep your milk closed as much as you can, rather than keeping milk in a bucket you can keep it in 2l bottles which is sealed off with a cap.

µ Keep milk cold as possible, it can be just cold or even frozen.

µ Keep milk away from foods with harmful bacteria like meat products by separating the different products.

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