Cross contamination of bacteria in ready to eat food

Foods that can be eaten without further cooking should be produced under the best conditions of sanitation, and some foods of this type, such as milk power should be subjected to frequent bacteriological examination to determine that they are essentially free of Salmonella bacteria.

These foods are categorized as high-risks foods because they are particularly likely to become infected with pathogens.

If these bacterial are allowed to contaminate food which is to be eaten without further cooking, food poisoning can result.

Cross contamination from raw food may happened as a result of poor storage when juices from raw meat are allowed to drip on the cooked food, or via a chopping board, work surface or utensil used for both raw and cooked food.

In ready to eat foods there are no way to destroy micro-organisms that contaminate foods after the initial cooking process since they will not be heat treated before serving. Hence proper storage at low temperature is critical to prevent microbial growth.
Cross contamination of bacteria in ready to eat food