| |
Home
Add
a Restaurant
Food Safety
Contact
Links
|
 |
|
Safe Food Handling
Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential to prevent
foodborne illness. You can't see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that
may cause illness. In every step of food preparation, use the following
guidelines to keep food safe:
- Wash hands and surfaces often.
- Don't cross-contaminate.
- Cook to proper temperatures.
- Refrigerate promptly.
Shopping
-
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.
-
Put raw meat and poultry into a plastic bag so meat juices will not
cross-contaminate ready-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 a
cooler with ice for the perishables.
Storage
-
Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour when the
temperature is above 90 °F). Harmful bacteria that cause foodborne
illness grow rapidly at room temperature.
-
Check the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer with an appliance
thermometer. The refrigerator should be at 40 °F or below and the
freezer at 0 °F or below.
-
Cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats
within 2 days; other beef, veal, lamb, or pork, within 3 to 5 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.
-
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. Discard cans that are
dented, leaking, bulging, or rusted.
Preparation
- Always wash hands 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.
- Marinate meat and poultry in a covered dish in the refrigerator.
- Sanitize cutting boards by using a solution of 1 teaspoon chlorine
bleach in 1 quart of water.
Thawing
-
Refrigerator: The refrigerator allows slow, safe thawing.
Make sure thawing meat and poultry juices do not drip onto other food.
-
Cold Water: For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof
plastic bag. Submerge in cold tap water. Change the water every 30
minutes. Cook immediately after thawing.
-
Microwave: Cook meat and poultry immediately after microwave
thawing.
Cooking
-
Cook ground meats to 160 °F; ground poultry to 165 °F.
-
Beef, veal, and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops may be cooked to 145
°F; all cuts of fresh pork, 160 °F.
-
Whole poultry should reach 180 °F in the thigh; breasts, 170 °F.
Serving
-
Hot food should be held at 140 °F or warmer.
-
Cold food should be held at 40 °F or colder.
-
When serving food at a buffet, keep food hot with chafing dishes,
slow cookers, and warming trays. Keep food cold by nesting dishes
in bowls of ice or use small serving trays and replace them often.
-
Perishable food should not be left out more than 2 hours at room
temperature (1 hour when the temperature is above 90 °F).
Leftovers
-
Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours
(1 hour if the temperature was above 90 °F).
-
Place food into shallow containers and immediately put in the refrigerator
or freezer for rapid cooling.
-
Use cooked leftovers within 4 days.
Refreezing
Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before
or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before refreezing.
For more information see: Food
Safety Government Links
Copyright 2007 sdbest. All rights reserved
|
