Food Safety with FATTOM

“FAT TOM” is a mnemonic device used to represent the six conditions that support bacterial foodborne growth. “F” stands for food. Foodborne bacteria needs carbs and proteins to grow. Foods like meat, eggs, fish, and dairy products are potentially hazardous for harvesting bacteria because bacteria grow quickly in moist areas. Bacteria is always present in food.

“A” stands for acidity. The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline something is. It ranges from 0-14. If a food has a pH between zero and 6.9 it is acidic. If it stands at 7.0 exactly, it is a neutral food. Bacteria like to grow in a slightly acidic pH, which is a pH between 7.5 and 4.6. Vinegar, pickles, and citrus fruits are acidic and can kill bacteria because of its acidity. Foodborne bacteria typically does not grow in alkaline foods like crackers.  

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“T” stands for temperature. Foodborne bacteria grows well between 41 degrees and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. If it is extremely cold, bacteria will not grow, and if conditions are extremely hot, bacteria will be killed. That is why we refrigerate foods, to slow the growth of bacteria and preserve the food. (There are some bacteria that grow regularly in cold temperatures, it just depends). You should be careful with your food while cooking it after it is frozen to ensure that these bacteria do not infect your food.

The second “T” stands for time.  Foodborne bacteria needs time to grow. If a food is in a bacteria’s growing temperature for longer than four hours, it will have grown enough to cause illness.

“O” is for oxygen. Aerobic bacteria require oxygen to grow. Anaerobic bacteria do not require oxygen to grow, like the bacteria in our gut, or the bacteria at the bottom of a soil ecosystem. Foods like cooked rice and baked potatoes have been associated with types of bacteria that grow without oxygen. Foods preserved in cans and jars limit the amount of oxygen exposed to bacteria, also limiting their growth.

“M” is for moisture. As said above, most bacteria requires moisture to grow. The amount of moisture in food is called water activity. Potentially hazardous foods have a water ativity of .85 or higher. Foods that are kept dry or preserved with salt and sugar deprive bacteria of water. This water activity is measured on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0, with water having the value of 1.0.

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Waste Treatment Systems

If you go to the Ohio Department of Health website, you can learn about septic systems. A septic system is a wastewater treatment system. They disinfect and cleanse household wastewater and are more economical than centralized sewer systems. Almost twenty five percent of American households use septic systems to treat the water they use. But a malfunctioning septic system can lead to backups, malfunctions, and failure. Septic systems are costly and annoying to have repaired. If you have a septic system working for your household, you use well water, you aren’t charged a sewer water bill, and the waterline coming into your home does not have a meter. To find your septic system, check your yard for the lid somewhere in the grass. If you cannot find it, you can contact a septic inspector or check your homes “as built” drawing.

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Maintaining your septic system saves you money. Repairing it could cost between three thousand and seven thousand dollars. If you just keep up with it every few years, it costs two to three hundred dollars each time. Keeping up with your septic systems health also keeps your health, you neighbors health, and your property value up. Basically, have your septic system inspected, pumped every few years, waste efficiently by not flushing items down the toilet other than human waste.

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The EPA’s “SepticSmart” program educates homeowners about system care and maintenance with six steps. To plan for a sewage treatment system, one needs to contact their local health district for information regarding planning for land development. The health district needs to visit your home to approve the soil and the site to do this. The soil needs to be evaluated to see how much of it is present, usable and where it is located; because natural soil is the most commonly used media for final treatment in the system. Other site conditions like slope and nearby water supply are evaluated during this inspection also. Homeowners will work with a sewage treatment system designer and that designer will determine the possible types of systems available for their land. Once a system contractor is chosen and installation begins, the homeowner should pay attention to the work being done to their home. The health district should give a final inspection of the new water treatment system and approve the installation if everything is correct. Each homeowner should have a contract with the contractor.

Sources:

https://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhprograms/eh/sewage/sewage1.aspx

https://www.epa.gov/septic/how-your-septic-system-works

Water Quality- Coliforms

Ohio Department of Health (ODOH) regulates private water systems. Private water systems are considered “private” when they offer water to fewer than fifteen service connections; and they do not regularly provide water to more than twenty five people in a sixty day period. Private water systems include everything from springs, ponds, water storage tanks to wells and cisterns.  These systems give water supply to things like toilet flushing and laundry machines. ODOH private water systems program gives instruction and training on the construction and maintenance work these water systems need to operate properly. 

It also investigates if there is contamination in the water, and what might be in that water. E. coli is a popular water contaminator, because the pipes that run clean water run very close to the pipes that run sewage water. If one of those pipes were to break, the water would quickly become contaminated with E. coli or coliforms.  A coliform is a gram negative, facultative anaerobe that grows and lives in soils, plants, and in the intestines of humans and animals. Coliform aids in the digestion of food.

E. coli is a type of fecal coliform. It’s an easy indicator of water contamination because it does not live in wet areas for a long time.  E. coli 0157 has been in the news for its potentially dangerous outbreaks, and its associated illnesses. For example, E. coli 0157 has been spoken about in regards to Haiti, with all of the destruction in Haiti, there is a lot of E. coli illness outbreaks. You can contract E. coli contamination by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food. You will not always become ill from it, but if E. coli is present in your water, there may be other contaminants in it too. E coli causes diarrheal infections and urinary tract infections.  

Properly constructed underground drinking water systems should not have contamination problems. There should be 0ppm coliform bacteria when the water is tested. If you use cisterns, springs or ponds as a drinking water source, you should have treatment devices disinfecting the water. 

sources: 

https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/general-health/e-coli-infection.html

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/default.aspx