Follow 5 simple steps which will help to protect you and your family from food poisoning at home
Step one: to clean
Frequently wash hands and surfaces. Bacteria being source of food-borne diseases can survive in various places, including hands, different kitchen utensils (cutting boards, kitchen table, sink, etc.) In case of not washing and cleaning properly bacteria can be spread into prepared meals and food served to the family.
Here’s some advice on washing and cleaning, which will help to be protected from bacteria.
Wash hands with soap and running water for 20 seconds. So, soak hands with warm or cold running water, soap and embrocate. Do not forget the opposite part of the hands, wrists, places between fingers and under nails. For underneath the nail you can use tooth or other brush. Keep on embrocating for 20 seconds. Then wash your hands with running water and dry with disposable towel or hand dryer.
Tap valves should be closed with a disposable towel or hygiene paper, for protecting hands from bacteria on valves.
Hands shall be washed
- before eating,
- before, after and then periodically during preparing a meal,
- before and after treating and swathing a wound,
- after dealing with raw egg, meat, poultry, fish products and their juices,
- after cleaning nose, sneezing or coughing,
- after touching animals or their excretions,
- after touching a garbage,
- after using toilet.
Wash kitchen utensils and surfaces every time after using. Bacteria can be spread throughout the kitchen, including the table, cutting boards and other accessories. To avoid from it
- Use disposable paper or cloth towels to clean kitchen furniture and sink surface. After it wash the clothes you wear with hot water,
- After each meal preparation wash all kitchen utensils, including cutting boards and tables with hot soapy water and rinse.
- As an additional precautionary measure the following mixture can be used: 1 tablespoon flavorless liquid chlorine dissolve in 4 liters of water and disinfect surfaces with the solution. Beware of working with the solution, wear an apron and household rubber gloves.
Wash fruits and vegetables with running water. Even if you’re going to disbark fruits or vegetables, you need to wash them first. In case of not washing bacteria can pass to the inner layers of fruit and vegetables through the peel when disbarking or cutting.
Here’s how to wash fruits and vegetables:
- Cut and take off defective parts,
- Put fruit and vegetable in a deep bowl,
- Soak for a few minutes, then wash with running water, and do not use soap or other cleaning or disinfection materials.
- Rub solid fruit and vegetable with an average dryness household brush (e.g., potatoes, cucumbers, sunchoke, orange, etc.)
- Clean fruit or vegetable with paper or cloth towel.
Greens should also be wetted in a bowl beforehand and left for 20 minutes. Then wash with running water and put on a colander.
Prevent cross-contamination. : Even if you have washed your hands, utensils and surfaces well, pathogenic bacteria can spread into already cooked food from raw meat, poultry, fish products and raw eggs.
Find out which food shall be kept separately and under what conditions.
Do not cut raw meat products, eggs, fish products and poultry on a cutting board intended for vegetables.Preventing cross-contamination is easy.
- Use two different cutting boards, one for raw meat, fish products and poultry, and the other one for vegetables, fruit and other ready food.
- Use different plates for raw and ready food. For example, do not put ready cutlet in a plate for raw cutlets.
- Wash the sink, cutting boards and tableware used for washing, cutting or keeping raw food with hot soapy water before the next use.
- When a cutting board develops hard-to wash grooves it’s time for a replacement.
Keep separately raw meat, eggs, fishery products and poultry from ready food, fruit and vegetables.
Cross-contamination can occur in the store too. To avoid it
- Keep raw and ready-to-eat food separately in the cart,
- Ensure that the raw food and ready-to-eat foods, fruits and vegetables has been placed in different polyethylene bags.
Keep raw meat, fishery products, eggs and poultry separate from the whole food products in the refrigerator.
Fluid can flow from raw meat, seafood, poultry and egg and disseminate bacteria onto prepared food. To avoid it
- Keep raw food in properly sealed plastic containers or polyethylene zip bags in the refrigerator,
- If you do not plan to use raw meat, fish products or poultry during the day, you need to freeze them,
- Keep eggs in a cardboard or polymer containers which you bought from the store.
Here is some advice which will help you in this matter.
Cook dishes minimum at 80oC temperature. Meat products, poultry and fish shall be cooked until 80oC minimum temperature is provided in their central part.
If you have a food thermometer use it and then wash with warm soapy water.
Mix dish at least once during the preparation. If it is mentioned on the food label, that it is necessary to serve the food not earlier than a few minutes later after turning off gas, then do not ignore that advice. The dish gets safer during those 1-2 minutes and, of course, more delicious.
Keep the dish hot after preparation. The development of harmful bacteria may continue when the temperature goes down after the preparation. For that reason keep food warm until it is served.
Freeze perishable food within two hours maximum.
- Make sure that it is 0-4 ° C in the refrigerator, and below -18 ° C in the freezer.
- Close tightly the doors of the refrigerator and freezer.
- Freeze perishable food within 1 hour in hot weather.
- Freeze food remains in the same conditions and time as the newly prepared dish or other food.
Do not thaw raw meat, fish products or poultry in the kitchen table. The development of pathogenic bacteria is promoted at room warm environment. For that reason there are a few safe ways for thawing meat, fish products or poultry.
- Thaw the frozen food of the freezer just in the refrigerator, in warmer environment. Just place the frozen food in the plate, so that the molten liquid is not flown and spread in the refrigerator and does not lead to cross-contamination: This method takes one day.
- Thaw the frozen food of freezer by cold running water within 30 minutes. But after thawing raw food shall be prepared immediately.
- Thaw the frozen food of freezer in microwave oven. Also in this case food should be prepared immediately.
- Do not thaw raw meat products, poultry or fish products. If you have little time, you can boil them frozen. But take into account that preparing period is elongated by 50%.
Use fresh, clean water and food.
Untreated raw water, ice, meat and other food products usually contain bacteria and chemical elements dangerous for health. Spoiled, poorly processed, pasteurized, washed food can lead to the emergence of toxic hazards. The use of fresh and well-processed food products reduces the probability of food poisoning and gastrointestinal disorders.
To avoid food poisoning pay attention to the marking too, and do not use food which is expired.