If you wish to follow the healthiest diet possible, you need to stick with some essential food safety tips that will ensure your food is as pure and bacteria-free as possible. This will help you avoid food-related illnesses while giving your body exactly what it needs to thrive. Keep reading to learn a few tips to get started.
Cleanliness Is Key
When preparing and handling the food that you’re going to eat, you need to ensure that all food prep surfaces have been properly sanitized. Start by washing the surfaces with soapy, hot water or a solution of 1tablespoon bleach in a gallon of water.
Also be sure to wash your own hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, making sure to lather and scrub well.
Another one of the most important food safety tips is to simply clean the inside of all appliances and your refrigerator on a regular basis.
Finally, before eating or cooking any fruits and vegetables, wash them under running water. You should also rinse these foods prior to chopping them.
Use the Right Temperatures
The right temperatures when cooking and storing your foods will play a role in inhibiting the growth of bacteria. You can use a food thermometer while you cook in order to ensure that the food has reached the optimal temperature prior to eating it (this will prevent you from eating undercooked food).
Once your food has been cooked, it’s also important to keep it at the ideal temperature in your kitchen. Maintain hot foods at around 140°F or higher. Cold foods should be kept at 40°F or lower.
If a food has been left out, it will no longer be safe to consu
me if its temperature was anywhere from 40-140°F for longer than two hours, or for longer than one hour if the temperature was higher than 90°F.
Know When to Keep Foods Separate
Keeping certain foods away from each other is important in an effort to eliminate cross-contamination. When you are shopping at the grocery store, keep all raw poultry, meat, and seafood in plastic bags. When you get home, place these below the ready-to-eat foods that are in your fridge.
When you’re preparing your meals, you should keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood away from other foods. Use clean cutting boards, and make sure you use a separate cutting board for produce so you don’t contaminate your cutting board with raw meats and seafood.
With these food safety tips in mind, you can ensure that your food will be safe enough to eat, and that will reduce your risk of illness.
