Noah Swart

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Fat Tom – Hygiene

Mr. Moss

Keep in mind how safe are the foods you eat

  When it comes to food, hygiene is the largest concerns many people have with it. When you buy something from a fast-food establishment, or a grocery store you expect it to be safe for consumption. Along with this you expect the employees of such establishment to have proper hygiene. The term FAT-TOM has become very popular in the food service industry.

  The term FAT-TOM is a mnemonic wording used to describe six conditions that are typically present in the growth of food-borne pathogens. F stands for food, being that food is the substance microorganisms will feed off of.  A stands for the acidity that needs to be present around the areas of pH 4-7.5 to thrive properly in a condition. T stands for the time that is typically required for a bacterial organism to survive and grow, typically in the case of three hours. The second T stands for temperature, for typically microorganisms and bacteria can’t survive in extreme heat or extreme cold. O stands for the oxygen, because very few forms of life can survive without sufficient oxygen. 

Finally M stands for Moisture, which is the biggest key factor in the growth of mold and pathogens.

Don't sanitize in plastic

  Food safety is typically regulated by the FDA and other big federal institutions, but oversight is always a big problem. It should be up to the business to properly hire and train employee’s that understand the dangers such bacterial organisms can show. It also rests on the individual to understand such dangers poor hygiene can prove to themselves and others around them. Vigilance is an actual proper form of industrial and hygienic safety. Reporting such violations is possible through food safety hotlines and organizations. The FDA has a report page for large corporate violations, and such whistle-blower report pages. FAT-TOM just briefly scrapes the edge of such problems and shows an underlining hygienic problem in our society.

   

Noah Swart

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6 Steps Sewage Treatment

Mr. Moss

A former waste disposer (Urinal)

   When it comes to taking care of our waste, we typically think of those banana peels we threw away or even the trash as it gets picked up from our front yard and driven away. What people don’t think about is our bodily waste and how hard it is to treat. The treatment of human waste has been something that is continuously changing to be more environmentally friendly and with less human interaction. Human waste carries multiple different pathogens and can cause numerous health problems. That’s why when your sewage system runs into problems, or you find yourself in a place where you don’t have a proper disposal system it’s important to know how to manage it.

   Through the Ohio department of health one can find a helpful six step process in creating a sewage treatment system. These six steps are laid out as such, the first step is to be sure you have the right papers to build such a system, so call your local health department and find out what you need to do. Secondly you will need a proper soil evaluation, this is due to the factors that can affect how your waste seeps into the earth and at what rate, along with if the soil is too loose and will cause waste to flow downhill. Thirdly you should work with a sewage system designer, as you are probably not fully knowledgeable about how to build such a system, and how it’ll effect your lot of land.

The most common waste disposer

   Fourthly you will start to obtain quotas of pricing for building such a system, typically from multiple different contractors you can determine the median price of such a system. Once you have selected a contractor your work can begin. By the fifth step construction of your new sewage treatment system will have started, and might even be by the end process. When it reaches a certain point you will have to have a local health department employee to come and inspect it to make sure it’s up to code. Your sixth and last step will be properly operating and monitoring your waste system for problems and complications that can always arise. With all these steps taken you should have a working waste managing system. 

Noah Swart

Blog Topic

Coli-form Bacteria

Mr. Moss PHD

A lake in which Coli-form Bacteria
could be present (My picture)

  Bacteria is one of the most prevalent organisms in our environment, it’s constantly over everything we touch, eat and rest on. Like many different dangers in our environment bacteria is invisible to the human eye. Although contrary to popular public belief most bacterial organisms aren’t harmful to their hosts. In fact numerous bacteria actually aids in the natural circles of life, such as the decomposing of dead organisms. Without certain bacteria’s our bodies wouldn’t be able to work in a perfect sync. Coli-form Bacteria is one of these really important bacteria’s.

  Often called Total Coli-form Bacteria, is a microorganism that is abundant all around the world. Including the dirt we walk on, the cold blooded animals that slither, and warm blooded creatures such as ourselves. Coli-form is one of the key components to breaking up the food that we eat, so it is usually prevalent in the digestion system. Although not all forms of Coli-form are as beneficial as that in our bodies, such in the case of Fecal Coli-form Bacteria which due to an excess amount of heat in warm blooded creatures waste it allows with the buildup of other harmful bacteria to make themselves present. 

An Old Well - Probably used for safe
drinking water. (My picture)

  You can come in contact with all forms of Coli-form Bacteria through ingestion of water that’s run through soil, or even by drinking small amounts of open natural water sources, such as lakes, rivers, and ponds. Although coming in contact doesn’t always mean you’ll become ill from it but such in the case of Fecal Coli-form if its present that usually is an indicator that other dangerous bacteria’s are nearby.

  What are ways to prevent contamination with this bacteria? The answer is quite simple and something that humans were able to solve in the early days of civilization, drink from wells or other clean water sources that aren’t exposed to such bacteria’s. Wells uses water that is deep under the earth and thus has no contact with above ground soil or animal waste to create a contamination.  Of course there are other numerous methods to purify your water, if it be through boiling methods or chemically. You just always have to be aware of the dangers one can face.