Food Safety

Learn how to safely handle and store food

With a weak immune system, it’s important you handle and prepare your food safely. Germs can be passed to you from food that is undercooked or not handled carefully, causing fever, nausea, vomiting, cramping and diarrhea. Follow these guidelines to protect yourself from food poisoning, whether you’re dining in our out.

Preparing Foods:

• Wash your hands with warm, soapy water before and after preparing each food. Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly with warm water, a mild soap and a soft bristle brush. You can also use a mixture of one half cup lemon juice to a gallon of warm water. Or, you can remove the skin or the peel from fruits and vegetables before you eat them.
• Cook meat, poultry and fish to medium or medium-well. Do not eat raw or rare meat, especially ground meat or poultry. Also avoid raw fish, including sushi, sashimi and steamed clams or oysters.
• Thaw frozen meat and poultry in the microwave or the refrigerator, not at room temperature.
• Drink pasteurized milk only. Unpasteurized milk or dairy products can carry salmonella.
• Don’t use eggs that have cracks in their shells. Hard-cook eggs for at least seven minutes or fry eggs for at least three minutes on each side. Avoid eggs that are lightly poached or over-easy. Also avoid food that contains raw or partially cooked eggs, such as homemade mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, homemade ice cream and egg nog, raw cake or cookie batter. Caesar salad dressing and the Spanish drink ponche are also very risky.
• Don’t eat soft-ripened cheeses, such as Brie and Camembert. Don’t eat moldy foods.
• Make a diluted bleach mix by adding one to two tablespoons of bleach to a gallon of warm water. Use this mix to scrub kitchen utensils.
• Instead of cutting boards that may cause safety problems, use cheap paper plates that can be thrown away after using.
• Keep hot foods hot. Baked dishes should be kept at room temperature for no more than 30 minutes. Germs breed best at room temperature.
• Make sure you wash off all cans before opening them; don’t forget to wash soda cans before drinking out of them.

Storing Foods:

• Get a refrigerator thermometer. Refrigerators should be at 40°F or lower, and freezers at 0°F or lower.
• Refrigerate food that you do not intend to eat immediately.
• If you are making a large amount of food, divide portions into small containers and refrigerate.
• Cover food tightly with a plastic wrap or store in air-tight containers to retain freshness.
• Prevent drippings from defrosted food to touch other food in the refrigerator; use the lowest shelf or the drawer to store defrosted or for defrosting food.
• Do not eat leftovers that have been sitting in the refrigerator for more than three days.
• Do not refreeze previously frozen food, especially meats, poultry, or fish and shellfish.
• Do not forget to check the expiration dates on foods both before purchasing and before eating.

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