There is one thing that many people overlook almost every time they tend to cook food for themselves and others. When you talk about food safety measures, it is more than looking after expired products in your fridge, throwing away expired milk, washing your fruits and veggies, washing utensils and making sure that everything is placed accordingly in your kitchen. Doing so can help you stay safe from food poisoning and the different variants of COVID that are emerging every now and then.
There are so many ways to do so and make sure that you get the best updates on the latest developments on COVID and its effects using the internet and news channels that are on Cable TV channels that are part of the Xfinity TV Packages. This way you can stay updated and safe from the harmful effects of a lot of ailments in the world. Without further delay let’s have a look at the different mistakes and ways to avoid them when preparing food:
Tasting Food While Cooking
It is not a healthy practice to check your food and see if it is spoiled. One of the reasons is that there are harmful bacteria that one cannot see, hear or smell. These bacteria can cause food poisoning and just by tasting a small piece of contaminated food you can get sick and different diseases.
To make sure you don’t get sick with food poisoning, you can throw away all the expired food before any of the bacteria grow and contaminate your food and your home. You can compost any expired plant-based food products like fruits, veggies, bread and other leftovers by vegetables to check your food and see if it is spoiled.
Using the Counter To Thaw Food
It is not a healthy practice to thaw your food on the counter as there are harmful foodborne pathogens that multiply rapidly. This mainly happens when your food is in the danger zone. Make sure that you thaw your food in the refrigerator, microwave, or in cold water
Not Replacing Your Sponges and Dish Rags
It is one of the ironic observations to deal with that sponges and dishrags are tools that carry a lot of dirt that hold the most harmful pathogens and can cause a lot of health risks. It is a good practice to sanitize sponges almost every day and get them replaced after a week or two to protect your utensils and other kitchenware protect against germs
Putting Cooked or Ready-to-eat Foods With Raw Meat
You should not let raw meat, seafood or poultry get in contact with cooked meat or your ready-to-eat foods. This can cross-contaminate your food as different foodborne pathogens that arise from raw meat can spread to ready-to-eat foods and cause food poisoning to whoever consumes this food. To get this done, you can always use a separate plate, cutting boards and other utensils to keep your raw poultry, raw meat, and seafood separate from ready-to-eat foods.
Let Your Food Cool Before You Put It In The Fridge
It is not a good practice to leave your food out of the refrigerator for more than one to two hours if the temperature is over 90°F on the outside. Not following this practice can give birth to bacteria that can cause sickness if you are dealing with perishable foods are left outside. Make this your practice to refrigerate your food timely. If you are traveling vis a road or on a picnic then always pack your perishable foods in an insulated cooler that has ice in it.
Marinating Your Meats On The Counter
It is not healthy to use raw meat marinade on cooked food and do the same on the counter. Also, using the same marinade for raw and cooked meat alike can get different harmful germs to come in contact when the temperatures get to around 40°F and 140°F. Apart from that, if you are using the same marinade, it will aid bacteria from raw food to get spread to cooked meat and other food items. So it is a good idea to marinate raw meat, poultry and seafood in your refrigerator and reuse the marinade only if you boil it before using it.
Final Thoughts
In the end, one can say that protecting yourself and your family from the mistakes and solutions mentioned above. Also, these practices are against health and safety standards if you are running a food business or just preparing for your kids and family.