Keep Your Visitors Safe With These Tips For Better Food Handling

Can't stress enough the importance of understanding how to handle food safely. This article from the ABC gives some good background.

In summary:

Break up big batches

Feeding hungry hordes over the holidays often means making large batches of food in advance.If you are preparing large batches of food in advance, store them in smaller amounts in a number of separate shallow containers with lids.

Two, four, out...

When it comes to leftovers, it's important to remember that the temperature danger zone in which food poisoning micro-organisms thrive is 5°C to 60°C. A good rule of thumb is "two-four-out".

Don't wash the bird

Washing your chicken before you cook it is one family Christmas tradition you need to break.

Raw-egg roulette

If mayonnaise, tiramisu, mousse, eggnog and other dishes are holiday favourites for you and yours, then you should know foods made with raw or minimally cooked eggs are now the most common cause of food-borne salmonella outbreaks in Australia.

Watch out for the rice salad

Rice can be contaminated with the Bacillus cereus bacteria, which are found in the soil and plants grown close to the ground – including legumes, grains and spices, says Cathy Moir, CSIRO food microbiologist. When these plant foods are dried and stored, the Bacillus bacteria remain present as spores, which stay dormant until you add water – then presto, they germinate and grow. Unfortunately the cooking process doesn't kill the heat-resistant spores and once the cooked rice starts to cool, the bacteria thrive, and produce toxins that can make you very sick in a very short period of time.

  Wash your salad vegetables

Soaking your fruit or vegetables for hours before you eat them is probably overkill, but a thorough rinse in fresh water is a good idea.

Moir says rinsing does two things: it reduces your exposure to microorganisms that can make you sick, and may wash away chemical and pesticide residues.

Which mouldy cheese should you ditch?

If it's a hard cheese, then it will have a low moisture content and its dense structure means mould will usually survive only on the surface, rather than spreading invisibly into the cheese. So it should be safe to cut around the affected area and eat the rest of block.

Spread love, not germs

You already know this, but most of us don't do it frequently enough or properly – wash your hands.As well as your hands, you should also keep your kitchen surfaces and equipment clean – especially after using them for raw foods. Be sure to use a clean cloth and hot soapy water to wipe down surfaces.

See the full article for the rest of the information that you want to commit to memory for your #betterlife and good food handling skills.