Safe Food Handling
By
Judith Wakefield
Summer is here and many people enjoy picnics away from home
and eating outside at their own homes. It’s
always important to keep food safety in mind.
We don’t want to ruin a festive occasion with someone getting sick from
the food you prepared.
You can’t see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may
cause illness. In every step of
food preparation, follow the four Fight BAC!
Guidelines to keep food safe: Clean
– Wash hands and surfaces often. Separate
– Don’t cross-contaminate. Cook
– Cook to proper temperatures. Chill-Refrigerate
promptly.
When you are shopping for food purchase refrigerated or
frozen items after selecting your non-perishables. Never choose meat or poultry in packaging that is torn or
leaking. Do not buy food past “Sell-By,” “Use-By,” or other expiration
dates. Raw meat does contain
bacteria,, cooking kills the bacteria. If
juices from raw meat drip onto foods that are not to be cooked they contaminate
that food. If it’s produce for a
salad, the food won’t be cooked to kill the bacteria.
Be sure to wash all fresh fruits and vegetables before you eat them.
At check out put raw meat and poultry into separate plastic bags so meat
juices will not run onto read-to-eat food or food that is eaten raw, such as
vegetables or fruit. Plan to drive
directly home from the grocery store. If
you live farther away than 30 minutes or the weather is hot, you may want to
take along a cooler with ice for the perishables.
Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour
when the temperature is above 90 degrees).
Harmful bacteria that cause food borne illness grow rapidly at room
temperature. They double every 20
minutes and can reach the level to make people sick. Some people like children, the elderly, women who are
pregnant, and those under treatment for other health problems are more
susceptible than others to food poisoning.
Check the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer with an appliance
thermometer. The refrigerator
should keep food at forty degrees or below and the freezer at zero or below.
What foods are perishables? All types of fresh raw meat, poultry, seafood, foods containing eggs or dairy products, and foods with low acid content like plain pasta, cooked dried beans, or rice. Moist foods are more susceptible than dry foods.
Cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats within two days of
Purchasing; other beef, veal, lamb or pork within three to five days.
Perishable food such as meat and poultry should be wrapped
securely to maintain quality and to prevent meat juices from getting onto other
food. To maintain quality when freezing meat and poultry in its original
package, wrap the package again with foil or plastic wrap that is recommended
for the freezer. The packaging fresh meat comes in is not intended for long-term
freezer storage.
In general, high-acid canned food such as tomatoes,
grapefruit and pineapple can be stored on the shelf for 12 to 18 months. Low
acid canned food such as meat, poultry, fish, and most vegetables will keep 2 to
5 years – if the can remains in good condition and has been stored in a cool,
clean, and dry place. High-acid foods eat away the inside of the cans, which is
why acid foods don’t keep as long as low acid foods. Discard any cans that are
dented, leaking, bulging or rusted.
Always wash your hands well before and after handling food.
Don’t cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish and their juices away
from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash hands, cutting board, knife and
countertops with hot, soapy water. Washing your hands isn’t just letting water
run over them. Would you want a doctor to do surgery on you if he’d just let
some cool water run over his hands? I don’t think so. Use warm water, and
soap. Work the suds into your palms, back of hands, between fingers and around
the fingernails for twenty seconds then rinse well and dry (it takes about
twenty seconds to sing the alphabet song). Marinate meat and poultry in a
covered dish in the refrigerator, not out on the counter. Sanitize cutting
boards by using a solution of 1-teaspoon chlorine bleach in 1 quart of water.
Let the solution set on the cutting board for two minutes before rinsing it off.
Thaw frozen foods in the refrigerator. The refrigerator
allows slow, safe thawing. Slow thawing allows moisture from the ice crystals to
be absorbed into the cells of the food and not drip out. Don’t let juices from
raw meat and poultry drip onto other food. For faster thawing, place food in a
leak-proof plastic bag and submerge it in cold tap water. Change the water every
30 minutes. Cook immediately after thawing. If you thaw meat in the microwave,
cook it immediately.
The safest way to cook meat is to use a meat thermometer
and make sure the inside has reached a safe temperature. Cook ground meats to
one hundred sixty degrees, ground poultry to one hundred sixty five degrees.
Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops may be cooked to one hundred
forty five degrees and all cuts of fresh pork should be cooked to one hundred
sixty degrees. Whole poultry should reach one eighty degrees in the thigh, one
hundred seventy degrees for breasts. If you are cooking outside on a grill, take
the raw meat outside on a platter. Wash the platter with hot soapy water before
you put the cooked meat back on the same platter. You don’t want to
contaminate the cooked meat with juices from raw meat.
Although it is tempting to leave food out after a picnic to
let people “graze” it’s not a good idea. It can become dangerous. Discard
any food left out at room temperature for more than two hours (one hour if the
temperature was over 90 degrees). Foods like crackers, cookies, etc., of course
are safe. A cake with whipped cream icing would not be safe.
When you are freezing leftovers place food into shallow
containers and immediately put in the refrigerator or freezer for rapid cooling.
Use cooked leftovers within four days.
Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be
refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before
refreezing.
Keep in mind to Fight BAC! Guidelines to keep food and your family safe: Clean – Wash hands and surfaces often. Separate – don’t cross-contaminate. Cook – Cook to proper temperatures. Chill – Refrigerate promptly. This way you can really enjoy summer picnics!