Bacteria are single celled micro-organism, invisible to human eye and living all around the natural world. There are helpful bacteria, spoilage bacteria and photogenic bacteria.
Helpful bacteria help us to digest food, to make food such as yogurt and cheese and make crops.
Spoilage bacteria make food perish.
Pathogenic bacteria cause illness and responsible for food poisoning and food borne diseases. They can be found in raw food, pests and pets, people, air and dust, dirt and food waste.
Cooking usually destroys them, but when they form spores, that is a protective coating, bacteria can survive even harsh conditions.
Bacteria can move, but they cannot travel on their own. They need vehicles of contamination for example: people, animals, equipment and utensils.
To multiply to dangerous levels bacteria need particular conditions such as food, moisture, warmth and time.
Food contamination refers to the presence in food of harmful chemicals and microorganisms which can cause consumer illness.
