September is National Food Safety Education Month. This is the perfect time for us to take a break from talking about the nutritional value of foods and how the recipes in our book, Flavorful Fortified Food – Recipes to Enrich Life, meet a variety of the needs.
Making nutritious food isn’t any good if the individual eating it ends up with a food-borne illness because the food became contaminated. According to Centers for Disease Control, one in six individuals will have a food-borne illness at some time and 15% of all incidences occur at home. Keeping food safe is as easy as Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill.
Clean – The goal is to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Wash your hands thoroughly and often for 20 seconds. Cutting boards cause 14% of the food-borne illnesses and about 92% of those illnesses is related to inadequate cleaning of the cutting board. Don’t forget to wash those reusable grocery bags. They not only carry food, but a wide variety of bacteria.
Separate – Keep raw food separate from cooked food. Mixing them is a recipe for disaster and increases the risk for food-borne illness.
Cook – Are foods cooked to the correct internal temperature? If you are not sure that those temperatures should be, go to http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html
Chill – Does your refrigerator have a thermometer near the door? Is your refrigerator temperature 40⁰F or less? Do you cool foods on the counter before placing in the refrigerator? If you answered “no” to the first two questions or “yes” to the last question, food is at risk for increased bacteria growth.
Want to learn more go to www.figntbac.org or www.fsis.usda.gov
Making nutritious food isn’t any good if the individual eating it ends up with a food-borne illness because the food became contaminated. According to Centers for Disease Control, one in six individuals will have a food-borne illness at some time and 15% of all incidences occur at home. Keeping food safe is as easy as Clean, Separate, Cook, Chill.
Clean – The goal is to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Wash your hands thoroughly and often for 20 seconds. Cutting boards cause 14% of the food-borne illnesses and about 92% of those illnesses is related to inadequate cleaning of the cutting board. Don’t forget to wash those reusable grocery bags. They not only carry food, but a wide variety of bacteria.
Separate – Keep raw food separate from cooked food. Mixing them is a recipe for disaster and increases the risk for food-borne illness.
Cook – Are foods cooked to the correct internal temperature? If you are not sure that those temperatures should be, go to http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html
Chill – Does your refrigerator have a thermometer near the door? Is your refrigerator temperature 40⁰F or less? Do you cool foods on the counter before placing in the refrigerator? If you answered “no” to the first two questions or “yes” to the last question, food is at risk for increased bacteria growth.
Want to learn more go to www.figntbac.org or www.fsis.usda.gov
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