Food Safety
These days of ever more wily bacteria and viruses call for extra vigilance in the kitchen. To make sure your guests don’t wake up remembering your dinner none too fondly in the middle of the night (or worse), take a few precautions.
Chief among them is it avoid cross contamination. That’s when cooked or ready-to-eat foods pick up bacteria from other foods, hands, cutting boards, knives or other utensils. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Safety Tips
- Keep raw foods separate and store them in different sealed containers or plastic bags so that the juices from one food—say raw chicken--don't drip onto other foods—say lettuce.
- Purchase two cutting boards that are distinctly different from one another for everyday chopping and cutting chores. Designate one for raw meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish and the other for ready-to-eat foods, such as breads and vegetables. If you can only afford one cutting board, designate on side for the meat, poultry and fish and the other for everything else.
- Clean everything that raw meat, poultry or fish touches -- including hands, utensils, knives, countertops, and cutting boards -- with hot, soapy water. You can use those disinfectant wipes that are now on the market, but rinse off the surface with clear water to avoid picking up the disinfectant flavor in the next food you handle.
Recommended Temperatures
Cooking foods to the proper internal temperature is also critical for safety. Invest in a good meat thermometer and follow these guidelines.
Rules to Follow
- Don't cook any meat, poultry, or fish in stages (partially cooking it to save time, then finishing it later). Even if you store it in the refrigerator between cooking periods, safe temperatures may not be maintained.
- Heat any marinade or basting sauce to a rolling boil and hold it there for two or three minutes if it has been in contact with raw meat and you intend to serve it as a sauce with the meal.
- Always marinate meat, poultry or fish in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
- Don't let any cooked food stand at room temperature longer than one hour. After that, bacteria tend to multiply rapidly.
- Reheat leftovers to 165°F. If you’ve properly refrigerated the leftover roasted chicken or ham, it’s fine to eat it cold or on sandwiches the next day (or even the next two or three days). But if you’re reheating something in the oven or the microwave, make sure you get the internal temperature above 165°F.
- Throw away cracked eggs. They may have become contaminated with harmful bacteria.
- Watch how long you let picnic foods sit out in the summer heat. If the outside temperature is more than 90º F, don’t let the food sit out for more than an hour. To be safe, keep perishable foods on ice to make sure they stay chilled.
- Check the expiration or “use by" date on foods. If you can’t use it by then, freeze it. Make sure your freezer is set at 0° F for best results and be sure to label what you freeze with the date and description.
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