Food safety

 


Food safety
Food safety's about more than keeping your hands away from a whirring food processor blade - it means knowing how to avoid spreading bacteria, safe shopping, and more. Check out these facts on safe food preparation.
Why Food Safety Matters
Food that hasn't been prepared safely may contain bacteria like E. coli. Unsafe food can also spread food-borne illnesses like salmonellas (pronounced: sal-muh-neh-low-sus) and Campylobacter (pronounced: kam-pye-low-bak-tur) infection. The good news is you can keep on top of bacteria and food-borne illness by playing it safe when buying, preparing, and storing food.
Start at the Supermarket
You have your shopping list in one hand and that shopping cart with the bad wheel in the other. But where should you start and how do you know which foods are safe? Take a peek at these tips:
· Make sure you put refrigerated foods in your cart last. For example, meat, fish, eggs, and milk should hit your cart after cereals, produce, and chips.
· When buying packaged meat, poultry (chicken or turkey), or fish, check the expiration date on the label (the date may be printed on the front, side, or bottom, depending on the food). Don't buy a food if it has expired or if it will expire before you plan to use it.
· Don't buy fish or meat that has a strong or strange odor. Follow your nose and eyes - even if the expiration date is OK, pass on any fresh food that has a strange smell or that looks unusual.
· Place meats in plastic bags so that any juices do not leak onto other foods in your cart.
· Separate any raw meat, fish, or poultry from vegetables, fruit, and other foods you'll eat raw.
· Ground beef should be red, not any shade of brown.
· Eyeball eggs before buying them. Make sure that none of the eggs are cracked and that they are all clean. Eggs should be grade A or AA.
Don't slow down your cart for these bad-news foods:
· fruit with broken skin (bacteria can enter through the skin and contaminate the fruit)
· unpasteurized ciders or juices (they can contain harmful bacteria)
· prestuffed turkeys or chickens