Safe Food Handling
Elizabeth Delaney
In the Kitchen, Preperation, Thawing
- Clean- wash hands and surfaces often
- Separate- do not cross contaminate food
- Cook- cook food at the right temperature
- Chill- refrigerate food promptly
- Always wash hands with warm water and soap before handling food
- Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other food
- After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, utensils, and counter tops with hot, soapy water
- Cutting boards, utensils, and counter tops can be sanitized by using a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water
- Marinate meat and poultry in a covered dish in the refrigerator
- food.
- Cold Water: For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag, place in cold tap water, change the water every 30 minutes, cook right after thawing
- Microwave: Cook meat and poultry right after microwave thawing
- Refrigerator: The refrigerator allows slow, safe thawing
- Make sure thawing meat and poultry juices do not drip onto other food
At the Store, Storage, Cooking
- Get the cold items after getting the items that do not need to be kept cold
- never choose meat or poultry that has a torn or leaking bag
- do not buy food that is past their expiration date
- Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb and veal to a temperature of 160 degrees
- Cook poultry to 165 degrees
Always try to eat healthy
Serving, Leftovers and Refreezing
- Hot food should be held at 140 degrees or warmer
- Cold food should be held at 40 degrees or colder
- When serving food at a buffet, keep food hot warm dishes
- Keep food cold in cold dishes
- Perishable food should not be left out more than 2 hours at room temperature
- put food in shallow containers and instantly put it in the refrigerator or freezer
- use cooked leftovers within 4 days
- reheat leftovers to 165 degrees
- Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen after cooking
- if thawed by other methods cook before freezing