Preparing your food safely - Sponsored post

When preparing Pork we need to be particularly careful about cleaning up after ourselves, and ensuring we clean our cutting board and hands properly.

The majority of food-borne illnesses are caused by food that was either incorrectly prepared or handled. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that between 50% and 80% of food borne illnesses occur in your own home. Foods need to be heated for a long enough time period and at a temperature that will kill any harmful micro-organisms such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria.

Tips for practising proper hygiene:

1.       Use separate areas when storing and preparing raw meat, poultry and seafood.

2.       Ensure your fridges temperature is at 5°C; and don’t overfill your fridge in order to allow the cold air to circulate.

3.       Use food preservatives such as salt if refrigeration is not possible, or simply prepare foods fresh each day.

4.       Make sure that you stop food juices from dripping onto other foods.

5.       Wash your hands regularly during the preparation process and especially after touching raw meat and poultry.

6.       Use separate knives and cutting boards when cutting meats and vegetables.

7.       Clean all utensils, cutting boards and surfaces after preparing food.

8.       Before handling fruits and vegetables; be sure to soak, wash, brush or scald them.

9.       Cook all meats thoroughly at a temperature of 70°C.

10.   Cover and refrigerate cooked foods within two hours of preparation.

11.   It is advisable to only reheat (at 70°C) and re-serve leftover food only once.

12.   Make sure that you wash your hands before and after eating – Try using a handy hand dispenser, the folks at Dettol also have wipes.

Meats like poultry, pork, hamburgers, sausages, chicken nuggets, rolled joints, and kebabs should never be eaten rare because they may harbour bacteria that can cause illness.

The Hygiene Council conducted a study and found that 19% of kitchen surfaces were contaminated with E. coli. This contamination could have come from raw meats coming in contact with these surfaces which show that handling and preparing food correctly in the kitchen is very important.