6 Food Safety Tips to Start Right Now
In the hustle and bustle of life, you may forget to pay attention to food safety when food shopping and cooking. Taking shortcuts when it comes to handling food can lead to harmful food borne illnesses. Food safety refers to the handling, preparation, and storage of food in safe ways that prevent food-borne illnesses.
Here are some tips on how you can be food safe!
6 Food Safety Tips
- Sanitize – It’s always a good idea to sanitize your countertops and sink before and after cooking, especially when you are preparing foods like raw chicken and meat. This also includes the handles and knobs on appliances as well! This way no bacteria from the raw meat sticks around and sneaks into any of your other food!
- Use separate cutting boards – Be sure to have separate cutting boards designated for fruits and veggies, raw meat and poultry, cooked meat and poultry, and fish.
- Clean out your refrigerator once a week – Another important thing to do is to go through your fridge and dispose of foods that you can no longer eat. Leftovers are typically good for about four days after preparation and raw meat/chicken typically lasts one to two days in the refrigerator. However, if you do want to keep your food for longer than just a couple days, the freezer is a great option! You can store foods in your freezer for a lot longer.
- Rinse your produce – Rinsing your produce is important – even if you plan to peel it because there are microbes that live on the outside of some of these foods that can be dangerous if transferred to the inside and then ingested by you!
- Separate foods when shopping – You want to make sure that when you are shopping for groceries, you are being mindful of what you put where. For instance, when shopping, choose your produce first and put them in those plastic bags near the produce section and not directly into the cart. Choose the meat, chicken and seafood last before checking out. Be sure to put the meat in plastic bags as well, and put it in a separate section of the shopping cart.
- Use a food thermometer – Using a food thermometer is a great idea when cooking meat and chicken. The minimum internal temperature of meat and fish should be at least 145 degrees before eating and chicken should be 165 degrees! However, remember that foods are no longer safe to consume after they have been left out for more than two hours in the “danger zone”. The danger zone is between 40-140 degrees fahrenheit.
If you pay attention and make sure you are following food safety recommendations, you are taking the necessary steps to keep you and your family well and avoiding food-borne illness.
Your Turn to Take Action: What changes will you make to ensure you are following food safety recommendaitons? Let me know in the comments below!
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I constantly get colds during the winter season whenever I report at work, and since I find it expensive and time-consuming to tend to my health whenever I’m sick, I want to take care of myself better this time. Thanks for the advice that sanitizing my countertops before I cook is the best way for me to keep myself from getting ill. In my opinion, I think I should also consult a physician regarding some tips so I won’t get the flu anytime soon.
Glad these tips for helpful. And, yes, it’s always a good idea to consult with your physician for other ways to stay healthy during the winter months!