Spoilage Bacteria

Spoilage bacteria are the other type of bacteria that you need to know about as a food handler. Spoilage is the process of food decomposing, rotting, or ‘going bad’, it means that bacteria, mould or yeast is spoiling the quality of food and making it unsafe to eat. They are different from pathogenic microorganisms, because the food has not been contaminated by a physical, biological or chemical source. It’s more environmental – the food is either at the end of it’s life or it hasn’t been stored or handled properly and bacteria has been able to grow. You’ll know food is spoiled if it’s discoloured, smells odd, if the packet it’s in is bulging, or if you can actually see the mould. It’s illegal to sell spoiled food so it’s important that you throw it away whilst following your organisation’s procedures – this also goes for food that only looks partially spoiled. For example, if you see a couple of spots of mould on one slice of bread, the whole loaf has to go. Bacteria multiply VERY quickly. We’ll take a look at just how quick in the next slide.