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How Does HACCP Protect You and Your Food?

What does HACCP mean? How does it safeguard your food? What are the obligations placed on the food industry to ensure compliance? HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points. Let’s look at this food safety system and see how it works. Set up by the European Union HACCP has been mandatory in the food industry since 2006, HACCP origins date back to the 1960’s space program where it was decided early in the process that maintaining food for prolonged periods of time in space was essential. It was defined as an overview more than ten years before that by the World Health Organisation’s Codex Alimentarius Commission. The principles behind HACCP are best described as PDCA. Plan, Do, Check Act. A terminology that should be familiar to those familiar with process control. This means that for most businesses … Read more

Better Breakfast Month

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day It’s true. After waking, perhaps 8 to 10 hours after last eating, breakfast gets the body going and fuels you for the day to come. It starts the metabolism and reduces the chance of craving carbohydrate snacks later in the morning. Throughout September Better Breakfast Month promotes the benefits of a healthy start to the day. The science behind breakfast is quite conclusive. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was a comprehensive review of over 4,000 adults of all ages and showed the benefits of a good breakfast. For example, the body mass index (BMI) of a woman who eats breakfast is under 25. This is almost 2 points under the national average. Missing breakfast is not good for your health and is not an effective weight loss strategy. … Read more

How to defrost chicken safely

To avoid food poisoning it is essential that food be defrosted safely before use. It is especially important to know how to defrost chicken safely. Why is this step so important? There are two issues to consider when defrosting food, both of which will affect the quality of the food once prepared and, more important, add a risk of food poisoning to whoever eats the food. If you want to know how to defrost chicken and other foods, read on. The first issue is if the food is not properly defrosted. For example, joint of meat or poultry may that is not properly defrosted may appear ready to cook from the outside, but the meat at the may still contain ice crystals. This means that, after following the cooking instructions for a de-frosted piece of meat of that type, the … Read more

Oven thermometer to check cooking temperature

Choosing an Oven Thermometer

An Overview of Oven Thermometers There are two main types of oven thermometer. Pre-installed oven thermometers, as the name suggests are built into an oven and, in most cases have a temperature display on the outside control surface of the oven. A stand-alone oven thermometer is bought separately and placed in the oven. These standalone devices come in many different shapes and sizes. Take a look a sample of suitable Comark thermometers here. Oven thermometers work on what is known as “point principle” They take a reading from a particular part of the oven. They are positioned and calibrated to give an accurate reading of the cooking temperature of the oven. This is an important distinction. The heating element, oven walls and oven door might all have slightly different temperatures that vary up and down from the cooking temperature. Therefore, … Read more

Comark’s C12 Thermometer on Celebrity MasterChef

It’s always exciting to see our products being used and this week’s spot was no exception. One of our eagle-eyed staff members spotted the C12 HACCP Thermometer being used to check meat temperatures on Celebrity MasterChef. This handy thermometer was seen in action at Smith & Wollensky, the iconic American fine dining steakhouse in London, being used to check cooked meat temperatures. Comark’s C12 HACCP Thermometer can be used for core food checks to make sure that safe minimum internal temperatures have been reached to avoid food poisoning. It is a great choice for any kitchen and perfect for catering, food service and other food uses. If you are a budding MasterChef, you might be interested to know that the C12 HACCP thermometer is supplied complete with a penetration probe for core food temperature measurements and an air probe for measuring … Read more

Regularly check your refrigerator, fridge or freezer

The truth about your refrigerator and freezer

Have you heard any of these snippets of advice about refrigerators and freezers? A refrigerators is more cost efficient when it’s full. Your refrigerator is much warmer at the top and colder at the bottom. When the seal on your refrigerator begins to decay you should replace the appliance. Which of these are true and how should you use your appliance to get the best, safest and most cost-effective performance? Let’s take a look. A refrigerator is more cost effective when it is full This commonly held view comes from one of two ideas. The first is that the air inside your appliance needs to be cooled by the compressor to attain the correct temperature. The more air, the more the compressor needs to work. Alternatively, that, solid objects, once cooled to the correct temperature take longer to warm up … Read more

Advantages of a digital thermometer for food

Pros of using a Digital Thermometer for Food

Advantages and Characteristics of Digital Food Thermometers In most regards a digital thermometer offers the same functions as a traditional thermometer. Imagine food preparation without a thermometer? There would be no safe and effective way of measuring whether food is properly cooked by visual means alone. Whether the fault of the operator or of the equipment being used, it is possible to under prepare or over prepare food. A faulty oven or grill, a miscalculation in terms of the time needed to cook could all result in spoiled or dangerous food. The only absolute way to be sure that food has been prepared properly is by using a thermometer. Advantages of a Digital Thermometer Digital thermometers tend to be easily portable and are highly accurate. They will either have a probe attached or a built in probe that is placed … Read more

Best BBQ thermometer to check meat temperature

Using a BBQ Thermometer for Safe Meat Preparation

A good quality BBQ thermometer is an essential item for al-fresco cooking. Warm weather and long evenings make the ideal combination for a barbecue. It’s a relaxed way to eat and . There is a need to be a little cautious however, as this might sometimes lead to a more relaxed approach to food preparation and that is not such a good idea. The storage, preparation and handling of meat, in particular chicken and pork, needs as much care outdoors, as it does indoors. A large-scale study reports that cases of reported food poisoning double in barbecue season, compared to the annual average. The study reveals some other startling statistics; It’s estimated that in cases where the person who becomes ill understands that poorly stored or prepared barbecue food was the cause, only 10% of cases are seen by a … Read more

What is a Thermocouple?

What is a Thermocouple? A type of sensor that is used to measure temperature Two wires of different metals connected together A thermometer that uses a thermocouple sensor The Thermocouple itself is made by welding two dissimilar metal wires together, which form the point of measurement. The wires are then insulated from each other along their lengths and terminated with a connector for connection to a meter, or in our case a Hand-Held Thermometer. As the two metals in the Thermocouple are heated or cooled, they produce a very small, but measurable Voltage. Imagine this as a moving needle on an analogue meter: Movement to the left means the temperature is falling (colder) Movement to the right means the temperature is rising (hotter) The Thermometer measures this voltage, performs a calculation to correct for ambient temperature and then uses … Read more

Fourth of July Independence Day Celebrations

Do you have plans to celebrate Independence Day with family and friends on the fourth of July or saving your celebrations until the weekend? Whenever you host your get together, it is time to get out the red, white and blue decorations and plan your holiday menu. When it comes to Independence Day food, it is usually time for a picnic or barbecue as family and friends gather. You’ll want to make sure there are plenty of dishes to share and that there is something for everyone. When you are preparing your holiday feast, it’s a good time to remember a few food safety tips. Make sure that salads and other cold dishes are not left standing outside of the refrigerator or cooler for too long. The summer temperatures can rise in July. Warm, humid weather is the ideal environment … Read more

Comark announces new accredited HACCP and food safety training

As suppliers of specialist temperature measuring equipment supplied into food manufacturing, food service, catering and retail businesses, Comark is well placed to understand the importance of HACCP and food safety training to these organizations. “Comark continues to innovate food safety solutions. We are proud to launch our HACCP food safety and food hygiene training programme. Our aim is to provide new and established businesses with the knowledge and equipment required to meet the stringent safety standards of the global food industry.” – Mike Slevin, Global Sales & Marketing Director, Comark Instruments

Safe handling of chicken to minimize campylobacter contamination

Handling raw chicken requires attention to some basic food hygiene principals to reduce the chances of eating food contaminated with campylobacter. The Food Standards Agency quote that about four in five cases of campylobacter food poisoning in the UK come from contaminated poultry, especially chicken and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 1.3 million illnesses in the United States each year caused by campylobacter. Campylobacter has a low infective dose, meaning it takes very few germs (fewer than 500) to make someone ill (source). That means a single drop of juice from raw chicken can have enough Campylobacter in it to infect someone. How to reduce the risk from campylobacter when handling chicken Clean Make sure your hands are washed and that the kitchen worksurfaces, cutting boards and utensils are thoroughly clean. Immediately after being … Read more