When we go to our daily work place, we usually like to believe it to be a very safe environment. However, one safety aspect that is often and sadly overlooked is that of mold infestation. We usually believe that mold is not a problem to have to deal with in the work place and that mold is a problem that is only dealt with in the home. However, any building is equally susceptible to mold infestation. If you are an employer, you are therefore responsible for the safety of every person who is inside the building. If you do not make sure that mold is not in the building, you could be liable for any medical expenses that one of your employees may have as a result of exposure to mold in the work place. If you suspect that there may be mold in your building, you must first conduct your own testing. If you do, indeed, find mold, it is your responsibility to send off the mold samples to a laboratory that specializes in mold identification. You should receive your results within a few weeks to a month.
The first thing you should do upon finding out that there is a mold infestation, and what kind of mold it is, is to inform your employs that there is a problem. You should inform them of what measures are to be taken. You should next call an inspector as to determine how extensive the contamination is and if the case is mild, and can be dealt with in a short amount of time, or if the case is serious and could take up to several weeks to remedy. If the case is extreme, you should notify your employees that they are being laid off for the duration of the remediation process. You should tell them when the process will begin, and give an approximation of when the process will end.
You should also ask your employees if they have been experience any kind of health problems since working for you. Specific health problems that you should look for are respiratory problems, skin rashes, and any other kinds of complications commonly associated with mold.
If your building is indeed contaminated, it should never be ignored, be it your home or work place. If you can afford to pay for the medical bills of others, you still do not want there to be health problems for yourself.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Asian Food Is Highly Popular And Is Made With Mold
You can hardly find a person who does not like Asian food and anyone who enjoys soy sauce is not alone. In roughly two thousand years soy sauce has become one of the most popular and consumed condiments in history. Soy sauce originated in Asia, because in ancient times Asians had to package meat and fish tightly in salt in order to preserve the meat and excess liquid would be drained as a result. The liquid, which has soaked in the meat and salts flavor, would be used as a seasoning for other foods, like noodles or rice. However, when Buddhism began to rise in popularity, there was a shift from eating meat to eating vegetables and, therefore, the recipe for this seasoning also had to change. The recipe went to a salty paste of fermented grains. It was this recipe that became a prototype for soy sauce.
The recipe spread to Japan where it was modified and improved and a woman opened the world’s very first commercial brewery specializing in soy sauce. It was then that soy sauce’s popularity began to skyrocket.
Soy sauce, in the modern day, is made using mashed soy beans, wheat, salt, and a fermenting agent which is the very same kind as used in the production of sake, Aspergillus oryzae. Aspergillus oryzae is a popular alternative. This mold is the most important ingredient in the making of soy sauce. It is this mold that makes it true soy sauce.
The previously mentioned Aspergillus oryzae is used in other things as well, such as Japanese rice wine. The mold is used to ferment rice that has been steam and milled down to around 50 percent of its original mass and weight in order to remove amino acids, proteins, and fats that can make the smell of the wine less than pleasant.
Sake brewers take the cultivation of this mold at the utmost seriousness, because the mold is capable of absorbing surrounding odors. The same goes for flavors. For example, if the wood of the brewing wood is cedar, a slight cedar flavor will be absorbed. The mold is helpful for precisely these reasons. Sake and wine have a tendency to age in very different manners. Sake should be drunk almost as soon as it is purchased. While sake can, at times, taste better with age, it usually just tastes less than spectacular. Try some of these foods, You might find the you like them if you have not tried them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
The recipe spread to Japan where it was modified and improved and a woman opened the world’s very first commercial brewery specializing in soy sauce. It was then that soy sauce’s popularity began to skyrocket.
Soy sauce, in the modern day, is made using mashed soy beans, wheat, salt, and a fermenting agent which is the very same kind as used in the production of sake, Aspergillus oryzae. Aspergillus oryzae is a popular alternative. This mold is the most important ingredient in the making of soy sauce. It is this mold that makes it true soy sauce.
The previously mentioned Aspergillus oryzae is used in other things as well, such as Japanese rice wine. The mold is used to ferment rice that has been steam and milled down to around 50 percent of its original mass and weight in order to remove amino acids, proteins, and fats that can make the smell of the wine less than pleasant.
Sake brewers take the cultivation of this mold at the utmost seriousness, because the mold is capable of absorbing surrounding odors. The same goes for flavors. For example, if the wood of the brewing wood is cedar, a slight cedar flavor will be absorbed. The mold is helpful for precisely these reasons. Sake and wine have a tendency to age in very different manners. Sake should be drunk almost as soon as it is purchased. While sake can, at times, taste better with age, it usually just tastes less than spectacular. Try some of these foods, You might find the you like them if you have not tried them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Your Allergies May Be More Related To Mold Than You Think
With the teeming masses of people in the world that suffer from allergies, no matter the number of medications used, it is nearly impossible for them to find an escape from their allergens. The reasons for seasonal allergy symptoms are many. Most allergies are attributed to grasses, pollens, and various kinds of mold. Now, these three allergens are incapable of growing during the winter time. And while some molds can withstand colder temperatures than others, the majority of molds cannot continue to grow in these cold temperatures. Instead they manage to lie dormant for quite some time. They go into a kind of suspended animation when frozen, and if they thaw they will continue to live and they are equally as dangerous as before the time they were frozen.
However, in some areas of the world there is not a winter, and therefore, no freezing temperatures. And in these areas, people who live in apartment complexes and places of this nature are faced with considerable risk of infection, especially those who are highly allergic to these molds. The list of symptoms experience from an allergic reaction is long and varied, depending entirely on the specific allergy. The most prominent symptoms are runny noses and skin rashes. Perennial allergic rhinitis can be brought on by the presence of mold, as well. However, these allergic complications are usually only brought on by a high population of mold. The symptoms, however, can worsen if food that has been created using a type of fungus, such as mushrooms, bread, beer, and even yogurt. Blue cheese is also a chief offender.
While there are thousands of species of molds on the planet, the number of highly allergenic molds are fortunately only in the dozens. Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Alternaria are the three most well known kinds of mold to cause many allergic reactions. As a bit of trivia, Penicillum is the only genus with both a medicine as well as a disease named after it.
It is important that you stay on constant watch for grass, mold spores and pollen counts for each day on the news, if you have allergies. These daily reports are recommended, especially for the elderly or anyone who has a small child who may be allergic, and are planning an outing. This way, it will be apparent which areas to avoid. Severe allergic reactions
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
Dallas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors.
However, in some areas of the world there is not a winter, and therefore, no freezing temperatures. And in these areas, people who live in apartment complexes and places of this nature are faced with considerable risk of infection, especially those who are highly allergic to these molds. The list of symptoms experience from an allergic reaction is long and varied, depending entirely on the specific allergy. The most prominent symptoms are runny noses and skin rashes. Perennial allergic rhinitis can be brought on by the presence of mold, as well. However, these allergic complications are usually only brought on by a high population of mold. The symptoms, however, can worsen if food that has been created using a type of fungus, such as mushrooms, bread, beer, and even yogurt. Blue cheese is also a chief offender.
While there are thousands of species of molds on the planet, the number of highly allergenic molds are fortunately only in the dozens. Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Alternaria are the three most well known kinds of mold to cause many allergic reactions. As a bit of trivia, Penicillum is the only genus with both a medicine as well as a disease named after it.
It is important that you stay on constant watch for grass, mold spores and pollen counts for each day on the news, if you have allergies. These daily reports are recommended, especially for the elderly or anyone who has a small child who may be allergic, and are planning an outing. This way, it will be apparent which areas to avoid. Severe allergic reactions
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
Dallas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors.
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