Report Text:
Food was found to have been re-frozen after thawing. The re-frozen food products were removed immediately and destroyed. The manager reminded all the personnel in its fleet of the danger of re-freezing thawed food. If food is thawed and then refrozen, pathogens and micro-organisms can be allowed to grow, resulting in food poisoning, sickness and dysentery.
CHIRP Comment:
It is sometimes the case that Health, Safety, Security and the Environment is considered as hSSE rather than HSSE, i.e. health issues do not receive sufficient prominence. So CHIRP is pleased to include this reminder of the need for proper food hygiene.
Food poisoning can be extremely unpleasant and, in severe cases, life-threatening. This can apply across the maritime sector, on commercial ships, fishing vessels or yachts.
It is worthy of note that this manager has given prominence to this subject not as a result of an actual outbreak of poisoning but rather as a result of an early identification by ship’s staff of the hazardous incident, i.e. the re-freezing of the thawed food.
