[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Cooking delicious food is just one of the ways most people celebrate spending time with loved ones. However, food poisoning is something to be mindful of when preparing delicious feasts that everyone can enjoy. Read on to discover top food safety tips for your festive treats.
1. Wash Your Hands When Handling Food
While you’re busy in the kitchen, your hands come into contact with almost everything, including raw meat, vegetables, the fridge door, and even your phone. Before you start cooking, wash your hands properly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and do it every time you handle raw meat, poultry, or seafood. If your hands are dirty, they can spread bacteria quickly, increasing the likelihood of someone being a victim of food poisoning.
2. Avoid Cross-Contamination
Having raw meat juices mixed with your salad could be a recipe for disaster. Avoiding cross-contamination is important, so it is advisable to use separate chopping boards and utensils for raw meat, poultry, and fresh produce. Most importantly, you should always wash plates or other utensils that have touched raw food before reusing them, and store raw foods on the bottom shelf of your fridge to prevent their juices from dripping onto other items.
3. Maintain the Correct Cooking Temperature
You should be sure of the required temperatures when you’re cooking meat. For instance, you might find that your chicken looks perfect on the outside without realising it isn’t safely cooked on the inside. If you invest in a food thermometer, you can prepare your different meat dishes at the correct internal temperature because undercooked meat can carry harmful bacteria like salmonella, which can be life-threatening to anyone exposed to it.
4. Don’t Keep Food Outside for Long
Leaving perishable foods like meat, eggs, fruits and vegetables out for too long creates the perfect environment for bacteria to multiply rapidly. Unhealthy bacteria like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria thrive at room temperature and multiply at an alarming rate to spoil other foods, causing various foodborne illnesses. Anyone who consumes contaminated food can show unpleasant symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and, in severe cases, more serious health complications.
5. Defrost Meat Correctly
If you are planning to defrost meat for a roast, you should plan it carefully. For instance, you might think defrosting meat on the kitchen counter is convenient; however, it’s a breeding ground for bacteria. To avoid the risk of cooking partially frozen meat that might not cook evenly, consider these safe methods:
- Defrost your meat in the fridge for at least 24 hours before cooking.
- Submerge the frozen meat in cold water and change the water at 30-minute intervals.
- Use the microwave’s defrost setting.
6. Maintain Your Fridge and Freezer Temperatures
Maintaining the correct fridge temperature is essential for keeping your food safe and fresh. By setting your fridge below 5°C, you can help prevent the growth of harmful bacteria that thrive in the “danger zone” between 5°C and 60°C, significantly reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses. Maintaining your fridge at the correct temperature can also slow spoilage, helping to preserve your food’s texture, flavour, and nutritional value for longer. Moreover, this stops items from spoiling prematurely, reducing the risk of consuming contaminated items.
7. Check Expiry Dates
Things you should know when handling expired food items, include:
- Safety first: Expired food can carry bacteria that can lead to illness, particularly in vulnerable groups like the elderly, children, and those with weakened immune systems.
- Quality decline: While some food may still be safe to eat after its expiry date, its taste, texture, and overall quality may have deteriorated significantly.
- “Use by” vs. “Best before”: Understanding how these labels can differ is important. For instance, a “use by” date shows the food’s final day when it’s still safe to consume. On the other hand, a “best before” date suggests when the food is at its highest quality and how, even though it’s still safe to consume, its taste and texture might decline after that date.
8. Be Aware of Food Allergies
Food allergies can be life-threatening, with symptoms ranging from mild issues like hives to severe reactions such as anaphylaxis, which requires immediate treatment with an epinephrine injection. Common allergens and ingredients include milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. You might not know which of your guests have severe allergies if they don’t wear a medical alert bracelet and carry an epinephrine auto-injector.
9. Know How to Store Left-Overs
You might have plenty of leftovers that require safe storage options. For instance, it’s important to cool the food quickly before you move it to the fridge or freezer in airtight containers. Moreover, cross-contamination can be avoided by packing it in separate containers and placing it on different shelves.
Food safety is important but doesn’t have to be complicated. When you plan and follow simple tips, you can ensure your loved ones avoid health risks that can lead to severe consequences. The good news is that the Affinity Health plans provide exceptional healthcare benefits to lessen the dangers of food poisoning and other related foodborne diseases during this festive season.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
