Food Safety Tips at Home

When preparing and handling food at home it's good to follow a few simple food safety tips to prevent yourself or your family members from food-borne illnesses and cross contamination. This is gaining in importance also in the developed, rich countries, as gastrointestinal and respiratory infections are said to becoming more and more a financial burden for national health boards. Healthy adult persons are less possible to become ill. However, babies and young children, geriatric family members or persons with a deprived immune system are especially at risk.

Dishwashers can harbour germs and therefore we need to  clean the seals and filters regularly. Because dishwashers operate at high temperatures, we often assume that all germs will be killed off but in fact, during the cooling down cycle, the warm damp conditions inside the rubber door seals and under the basket fittings can be places where bugs proliferate.

Hygiene at home and in the kitchen is becoming more and more a concern</b>: our modern lifestyle has changed considerably compared to 20 – 30 years ago, when usually one person was responsible for preparing and cooking food. Today partners and children often enjoy preparing meals or friends come together to cook and eat.

Through watching TV and media programs,  we're now  keen to try new foods that are traditionally not cooked at all (e.g. Sushi, raw seafood dishes, tartar, homemade mayonnaise, crèmes etc.). 

The healthy living movement that promotes consumption of fresh food comes with one lttle "disadvantage": fresh food is still "living", germs and bacteria populations will grow explosively if food is stored improperly. (Correctly preparing these foods and following basic food safety tips, there is nothing better and healthier than freshly prepared food.)

On the other hand we are sometimes simply too busy or in a hurry to cook food right through.

Be honest: How often did you warm up something in the microwave and while eating thought, hmmm, it's still cold in the middle? And could you be bothered to go and cook it some more? I know I've sometimes just gone ahead and eaten it! Sometimes we get away with it - and sometimes we don't. But the problem is, children, old people and those with sensitive systems may become seriously ill from gut infections, even if the rest of us are OK. So it's not worth taking the risk.

FOOD SAFETY TIPS PROTECT ALL THE FAMILY

In a lot of households pets are living closely together with people. Dogs and cats are usually fed in the kitchen, cat litter trays can be in any of our rooms, including the bathroom. Dogs and cats may carry germs (e.g. Salmonella species, E.coli, Cryptosporidium etc.) without suffering from any signs of illness. Bad and unhygienic habits can spread these diseases by cross contaminating hands, work surfaces, toys and food.

Basic Food Safety Tips - The Big 4 C's

Cooking

• • Follow instructions on cooking times and temperatures
• • “Meat needs heat” – fry or cook meat and poultry thoroughly through
• • Microwave: make sure to stir and stand when heating liquids
• • Warm up and eat your food as soon as it is ready.
• • Do not eat or use food that is out of date (use-by, good until )

Chilling/Cooling

• • Fridge temperature should be between 0 – 5*C at all times
• • Defrost frozen goods in the fridge, under running cold water or use it within the cooking process
• • Let hot foods cool down before placing into the fridge, but don’t let it stand around for too long.
• • Use insulated bags when shopping frozen/chilled foods
• • Never re-freeze once thawed foods.

Cleaning

• • Always wash hands before handling food
• • Utensils and surfaces need to be cleaned as you go
• • Use sufficient and effective detergents and disinfectants for cleaning
• • Scrape off food remains from dishes and utensils before washing up or placing them into the dishwasher
• • Sponges need to be disinfected after use, clothes should be clean
• • Use only kitchen bins with lids

Cross Contamination

• • Keep raw food separate from cooked food. In the fridge put raw foods/meats on the bottom shelf
• • Use different chop boards, utensils and dishes when handling raw and cooked foods
• • Wash hands to stop spreading germs and use clean towels
• • When handling foods take jewellery off your hands
• • Practice effective pest control to protect stored foods
• • Pets should be kept away from food, utensils and dishes.