Hong Kong – Salads – Food Safety Booklet

CFS

Salads are mixtures of minimally processed ready-to-eat vegetables
with or without dressings. Common ingredients include fruits, poultry,
meat, seafood, eggs, pasta, herbs, nuts or cooked vegetables. Salads
are usually served cold, and are considered high-risk foods as some of
the ingredients are raw or undercooked. Pathogenic bacteria like
Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. may also be present in
some common ingredients such as eggs, salad dressings and fresh
vegetables. Moreover, their preparation requires a lot of handling,
which increases the risk of contamination with bacteria such as
Staphylococcus aureus from human skin and other microorganisms
with antimicrobial resistance (i.e. “superbugs”) if personal and
environmental hygiene is not maintained. To ensure the safety of
salads, food handlers should be alert to possible food safety problems
and take appropriate measures in the production process.
This set of guidelines is intended for food business operators (FBOs)
who prepare and sell salads at premises. It aims to help the food trade
to implement food safety measures in their operations in order to
produce and supply safe and wholesome salads.
While this is not a legal document and its use is voluntary, it reviews
some essential parameters related to Good Hygiene Practices (GHPs)
and recommends best practices that any FBO should consider in
providing safe foods to consumers.
Introduction and scope