Environmental Public Health Journal 2014 | BCIT Institutional Repository

Environmental Public Health Journal 2014

Fitness lunch bag
Background: Improper storage of food is one of the top ten food handling practices that cause a foodborne illness. This study assessed whether the Fitness Lunch Bag was able to keep precooked chicken breast cold at below 4°C (40°F) for 8 hours and to determine if the layers of the bag kept food consistent at the same temperature. Methods: Three SmartButtons, continuous temperature data logging devices, were inserted into three precooked and chilled chicken breasts. The three chicken breasts were placed within three trays inside the Fitness Lunch Bag that remained at room temperature for 8 hours. The internal temperatures were logged at one hour intervals. A total of 30 samples were collected. NCSS was used for statistical analysis of the data by regression/correlation and ANOVA. Results: The Fitness Lunch Bag was unable to hold cold food safely, at 4°C (40°F) and below for 8 hours. All three layers were found to exceed 4°C (40°F) within the first hour (p-value of 0.000 by 1 sample t-test). In addition, all three layers of the Fitness Lunch Bag were found to not be equivalent in retaining a consistent temperature throughout the bag (p-value of 0.000000 < 0.05 by regression analysis at the 8 hour mark). Layer 2 was the best at retaining the lowest temperature for the chicken breasts, followed by layer 1. Moreover, layer 3 was found to display the warmest temperatures out of the three layers. Conclusion: The results of the study show that the Fitness Lunch Bag does not have the ability to keep cold foods out of the danger zone, 4-60°C (40 – 140°F), for 8 hours. In addition, the bag was not capable of keeping cold foods safe at the 1 hour mark. Caution should be used with any type of lunch bag, insulated and/or frozen gel packed, especially with the potentially hazardous foods., Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Environmental Health, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 2014., Published., Peer reviewed, Peer-reviewed article, lunch bag, foodborne illness, temperature, temperature abuse, fitness
Frozen foods and recommended packaging temperatures.
Background: Frozen foods have cooking instructions on their packaging, but due to foodborne illnesses resulting from consuming them, it brings the effectiveness of these instructions into question. The recommended cooking temperature on the packaging is a specific numerical value that is not open to interpretation and can be used to measure effectiveness. Methods: Temperatures were taken from 208 different meat products from different stores. The information recorded include: the store the products were found at, the type of meat, whether the product was uncooked or cooked, and if it had safe handling instructions. The data was compared to 3 different guidelines to see if they met the recommendations or not. The results of the comparison were then analyzed using Chi-squared tests. Results: A majority of T&T products failed in all 3 standards, the majority of products from Superstore passed using all 3 standards, and the majority of products from Costco failed using 2 standards. Conclusion: The amount of products that met recommendations is dependent on the store, the type of meat, the uncooked or cooked status, and the guidelines being used due to the recommended temperature of poultry being vastly different in one of the guidelines. The other products that did not meet recommendations were due to them being cooked products without a recommended reheating., Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Environmental Health, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 2014., Peer-reviewed article, Published., Peer reviewed, Temperature, microwave, Regulations, Food Code, meat product, guidelines