Keeping your food safe from contamination is an important part of good food preparation. Cooking thoroughly kills bacteria that can make your customers sick. By following a few simple rules, you can help keep your food safe from bacteria and keep your customers safe. In this article, you’ll learn about three easy ways to keep your food safe. After cooking, make sure to wash your hands and keep leftovers at room temperature. Lastly, separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from your ready-to-eat foods.
Cleaning kitchen surfaces after cooking food
Before preparing and cooking food, you must ensure that you clean your kitchen surfaces thoroughly. Not only does this remove visible dirt and grime, but it also removes bacteria. Foodborne illnesses can develop due to bacteria remaining on surfaces for a long time.
Salmonella, for example, can remain on a surface for 32 hours before it causes illness. While cleaning removes some of these bacteria, it does not eliminate them completely.
Keeping leftovers at room temperature
There are many tips for safely storing leftovers after cooking. Ideally, you should use airtight containers to avoid odors and bacteria. Refrigerate leftovers on the top shelf and place older ones at the back. Keep hot leftovers refrigerated for at least 2 hours after cooking. Then, refrigerate them for two to three days. If possible, refrigerate food for up to 3 days after cooking. This is crucial for reducing the risk of foodborne illness.
Washing hands
You may have heard that you should wash your hands before cooking food, but did you know that you should also clean your fingernails? In fact, dirty fingernails can carry bacteria and make you sick. To avoid this, experts recommend proper handwashing techniques that include cleaning fingernails. This way, you can prevent the buildup of germs on your hands. Read on to find out the benefits of handwashing.
Keeping raw meat, poultry and seafood separate from ready-to-eat foods
While preparing your food, you should always separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from your prepared dishes. Raw animal foods may contain harmful pathogens that can cross- contaminate prepared food. This contamination can be transferred to prepared food through contaminated hands and surfaces. The best way to prevent this is to keep the two types of foods separate or store them in plastic bags before cooking.
Checking if food is cooked to a safe internal temperature
When cooking foods at home, it is imperative to check the internal temperature to ensure that they are cooked to a safe temperature. The correct cooking temperature will kill most harmful bacteria. You can easily check the temperature of any food by inserting a food thermometer into the thickest part of the food. Meats and sausages should have no pink meat or juices. If they are too pink, throw them away.
