F.A.T. T.O.M.

Food safety is very important and anyone who works in the foodservice industry should be knowledgeable on what FAT TOM means. Iowa State University shows very well how to understand the acronym. FAT TOM is a acronym where each letter explains on how food borne pathogens can grow. The F is for food and the nutrients that are in the food is wha the bacteria feed off of for it to allow to grow. Some pathogens require complex foods while other only require simple kind of nutrients. Most protein rich foods like meat, milk, eggs and fish are hazardous and so are cooked potatoes and leafy lettuce. A is for acidity or the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a substance. Bacteria grows best in an environment that it is neutral or slightly acidic the best being between a 6.6 and 7.5 on the pH scale. T is for time or also known as the two hour rule. These pathogenic organisms reproduce by cell devision and when they are exposed by the the other parts of FAT TOM then the speed of reproduction increases significantly. The second T is for temperature and better known for the TEMPERATURE DANGER ZONE. The temperature danger zone is the zone between 41 and 135 degrees fahrenheit. When the food is outside the temperature danger zone it lets the bacteria grow much slower than it would if it was not in the danger zone. O is for oxygen and the organisms that need oxygen to grow are called aerobic. Botulism is a rare food borne illness caused by a bacteria that does not need oxygen to grow and this is called anaerobic. This is why home canned items can not be used in food services. M is for moisture and the moisture content of the food. The water activity is the amount of water available for use and is measured on a scale of 0 to 1.0. Yeast, bacteria and fungus multiply rapidly with a high water activity level above 0.86. Foods that are preserved with salt or sugar have a lower water activity because the salt and sugar deprive the microorganisms of the water.

Food service workers can help food safety by just washing their hands according to the CDC. According to a study of 321 workers the most hand washing was done when there was food preparation involved and not while other activities are done. Hand washing is also more likely to occur when they are not busy and in restaurants that teach food safety training. It is important to have a hand washing sink in sight of of the workers because statistically they will wash hands more often.

This next picture is just a picture I came across when researching FAT TOM.