Basic Handling food safety
By Hannah Siebens
Shopping
When you go shopping for food you should try to purchase refrigerated items. You should never choose meat in packaging that is leaking or look like it has been squished. Also do not buy food that is past the shelf date.
Storage
Also ways refrigerate perishable foods with in 2 hours or an hour of getting it or taking it out. Always cook or freeze any fresh kind of meat with in 3-5 days of getting it. Canned food will not go bad as fast but they are best for 12-18 months after purchasing it and low acid canned food could last 2-5 years.
Preparation
Always wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before handling any food. Do not cross contaminate, always keep the raw meat away from the other foods. All of your equipment must be cleaned before using it. Marinate meats in a cover dish of some sort or in the refrigerator.
Thawing
Refrigerator is not as cool as the freezer so you could put your meat in the refrigerator. You could also put it in cold water For a little faster thawing. If you still need it to thaw faster that that you could just put it in the microwave.
Cooking
Cook all raw meats should be cooked at a minimum internal temp. of 145 degrees and before you remove the meat from the heat you have to test it with a thermometer.
Leftovers
You should throw out the meat if it has been sitting out for more that 2 hours. If it has not been sitting out that long then just put it back in the refrigerator. You can still eat cook leftovers within 4 days of when it was cooked. The temp you can reheat your food at is 165 degrees.