Food Safety Tips for Everyday Cooking

 

Food poisoning is not new here in Singapore although uncommon. For Singaporeans who experienced food poisoning, it can be unsettling and unpleasant even for healthy and fit person. If left unattended, food poisoning can lead to serious illness or worse – death. With this, as food handlers, it is important that we know food safety tips for the sake of our family.

Many people think that all food poisoning cases originated from restaurants and other food outlets however, we need to be aware that it can also come from our household. Our family can get ill from the foods we prepared at home. It is high time to you know food safety tips for your family’s sake.

Here’s the list of the tips:

• Wash hands: This is the most basic thing that you can do. Washing hands whenever you handle food should be observed. Washing hands mean including a lukewarm water and soap. It is crucial that you dry your hands before actually handling food. After handling raw foods like fish, meat, vegetables and eggs, you are required to wash your hands too.
• Clean worktops: Worktops should be sanitized often since it can entice bacteria. It doesn’t need to be antibacterial sprays, usually hot and soapy water is good. Cleaning the worktops before and after handling food should be practiced.
• Sanitize dishcloths: You have to know that damp and dirty dishcloths are the ideal breeding ground of germs. You need to sanitize it if you have plans of using it again. After washing with soap, you have to dry it. Once it is dry, then you can use it again.

• Employ different chopping boards: One common mistake here is using the same chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods. Raw foods hold bacteria that spread easily. This is the reason why you should employ different chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods. Do not forget to constantly sanitize it.
• Organize refrigerator: You just don’t put anything without arranging the food inside the refrigerator. The raw meats should be at the bottom of the shelf to avoid dripping. When there are ready-to-eat foods, make sure to keep it as far away from the meat to avoid the contact of bacteria.
• Cook thoroughly: When you cook food, make sure that it is steaming hot before serving. Restaurants have this standard cooking temperature to make sure that the foods are cooked thoroughly.
• Look for the dates: Do not consume foods beyond their ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ dates. Many people still use it especially if it smells and looks okay.