Processing your own food including meat and sausages is great fun where the whole family can get involved. You have to use common sense in the food hygiene to produce a naturally healthy and wholesome and safe-to-eat food.

The Canadian food hygiene checks at various food-producing plants are among the best in the word assuring that only safe food leaves the plant. But once the food is purchased and at home it is up to the customer to ensure safe food handing.

The following guidelines will help you to process and cook meat and meat products in a safe, hygienic way.

• Avoid cross contamination.
• Never put cooked meat on a chopping board that has previously been used for raw food without thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing it first.
• Use disposable gloves to minimize the risk of infection if you have a nick, cut or open sore on your hands.
• Wash your hands regularly and use a new pair of gloves for each step of the production. Especially when working with food that is susceptible to Salmonella.
• Wash hands thoroughly with warm water and soap after visiting the toilet, answering the phone, handling money and when you go from handling fresh meat to handling cooked meat or any other food or returning to handle fresh meat.
• If you have to cough or sneeze turn your head away from the fresh meat and other fresh foods.
• Do not eat food with your bare hands when processing fresh meat before have washed them.
• Thaw frozen foods thoroughly. Do this in the refrigerator or with clean running water. Cook thawed food immediately or hold at a safe temperature in the refrigerator.
• Refrigerate foods as quickly as possible. Get foods to 4ºC (40ºF) or lower as quickly as possible. Shallow containers aid quick cooling.
• Keep the room temperature as low as is possible when processing fresh meat and such meat is expected to be for more than an hour in the room. I.e. processing a animal carcass at home, try to keep that room as cool as possible.
• Divide large quantities into smaller quantities to help with the chilling process. Do not stack fresh unchilled or unfrozen food on top of each other in the cooler or freezer before they have been properly chilled or frozen.
• Discard or chill leftovers. To reheat later, stir often while bringing quickly to a temperature above 74ºC (165ºF).
• After you are finish with processing meat immediately wash all equipment used with hot water and dish soap by scrubbing with a brush. A dish washing machine can not clean as well as a person. After the washing put the hand tools such as knifes and hand bone saws, not electric equipment, in a bucket with a bleach solution made up of boiling water for about teen minutes. Do not rinse off after washing let the equipment air dry.

Below is a list of the major causes of food poisoning.

Bacteria

Bacteria is the largest cause of food poisoning. They exist everywhere in the environment and can be found in the millions on unwashed hands and dirty utensils. Bacteria need four key elements to survive and multiply; food, moisture, time and a favorable temperature. The optimum temperature for bacteria to grow and multiply is 4-63ºC (40-145 ºF); this is commonly known as the 'danger zone'. It is therefore crucial that during any food preparation or cooking process food is brought out of this temperature range as quickly as possible.

Salmonella

Salmonella bacteria live in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals and are passed in the excreta of an infected host. Untreated water, unwashed hands, flies or vermin can then spread the bacteria. The foods most commonly infected with bacteria are poultry, eggs and all kinds of meat. Thorough cooking of these foods to a temperature of at least 74 ºC will destroy the salmonella bacteria.

Staphylococcus Aureus

Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria are most often found on sores and around the nose and throat and are usually passed onto foods via the hands. The foods most often contaminated with staphylococcus are moist, high protein foods such as meats, cheese, stews, gravies, potato salads, custards, and pastry fillings. There is no tangible way to tell if food is infected with staphylococcus; taste, aroma and appearance all seem normal. Temperature is the key to the development of staphylococcus. Cooked foods that are not cooled quickly enough or that are allowed to stand at room temperature are susceptible to infection.

Clostridium Perfringens

The clostridium perfringens bacterial, like salmonella, is present in the intestines of humans and animals. The bacteria forms spores which can survive well in the soil and therefore vegetables can carry the organisms. Raw foods, meats and poultry are the common sources of the clostridium perfringens bacteria. Good temperature management is essential to avoid the spread of the bacteria.

Parasites

Trichinella spiralis is a parasitic worm whose larval form may be present in the flesh of pork or wild game. The best way to eradicate the dangers of the Trinchina larva is thorough cooking of the pork or game, although curing and freezing are also effective. Always follow the recommended cooking temperatures in recipes etc. The internal temperature of cooked fresh pork must reach at least 65.5 ºC (150 ºF). All hot smoked sausages should be cooked to 68 ºC (155 ºF). Cold smoked or air dried sausages, whose formulas contain Prague powder #2, should be cooked to 49-57 ºC (120-135 ºF). Never judge whether the meat is cooked sufficiently by looks alone. Always check the internal temperature using an accurate meat thermometer.