High-risk foods, including vegetarian ingredients that require little or no further preparation or treatment, can support the growth of food poisoning bacteria. Common vegetarian examples include rice, tofu, sprouting beans, herbs, salads, nuts, eggs and dairy products. All these foods have been implicated in food poisoning outbreaks. For example, widespread food poisoning outbreaks of an unusual salmonella strain, Salmonella Newport, occurred across the UK in 2004. Investigations pointed to lettuce from takeaways as the suspect food vehicle.

Some consumers are allergic to common vegetarian food ingredients such as nuts, dairy products, eggs, colourings and preservatives.

Vegetarian foods and food poisoning bacteria

Examples associated with vegetarian foods include:

• Salmonella: eggs, lettuce, sprouting beans and coconuts
• Bacillus cereus: rice and cereal or cheese products
• Clostridium botulinum: fresh yoghurt purées and honey
• E. coli O157: vegetable and salad crops in contact with raw sewage and manure.

Unsafe food handling practices

Given the right conditions, bacteria can be a hazard to consumer health in vegetarian food businesses just as in those businesses producing meat or meat products:

• through cross-contamination by transfer to and from food contact surfaces like hands or equipment that have not been adequately cleaned and disinfected
• through direct contact between, for example, raw vegetables and ready to eat salads
• by bacterial multiplication at room temperature or in a refrigerator. A good example would be unrefrigerated bean sprouts kept beyond their 'use by' date
• survival through inadequate cooking of egg-based dishes, or use of raw eggs in uncooked dishes; a good example has been the increase in food poisoning associated with the use of imported Spanish eggs contaminated with salmonella.

Safe food handling recommendations

The guide gives many recommendations that would be equally relevant to vegetarians and businesses where meat and meat products are produced. These include cold storage, cooking, cleaning and disinfection, personal hygiene including handwashing, reporting illness and hazard analysis/HACCP.

General advice for vegetarian food handling

The guide does, however, give specific advice relevant to vegetarian food businesses including:

• hygienic operation of a salad bar
• washing of fruit and vegetables
• temperature control of foods
• preparation of fruit and vegetables

To read the full guide, go to:

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk

ref: hyveg180405