Nutrition Safety Tips

Here are some tips to help keep you safe from foodborne illnesses.

Clean: Wash Hands and Surfaces Often

Bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, utensils, sponges and counter tops.

• Wash your hands with hot soapy water before handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers and handling pets.
• Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
• Use plastic or other no-porous cutting board
• Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels, wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.

Separate: Don't Cross-contaminate

Cross contamination is the scientific word for how bacteria can be spread from one food product to another. This is especially true when handling raw meat, poulty and seafood, so keep these foods and their juices away from ready to eat foods.

• If possible, use a different cutting board for raw meat products.
• Always wash hands, cutting boards, dishes and utensils with hot soapy water after they come in contact with raw meat, poultry and seafood.
• Never place cooked food on a plate which previously held raw meat, poultry or seafood.

Cook: Cook to Proper Temperatures

Food safety experts agree that foods are properly cooked when they are heated for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness.

• Use a clean thermometer, which measures the internal temperature of cooked foods, to make sure meat, poultry, casseroles and other foods are cooked all the way through.
• Cook roasts and steaks to at least 145 degrees Farenheit. Whole poultry should be cooked to 180 degrees Farenheit for doneness.
• Cook ground beef, where bacteria can spread during processing, to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) link eating undercooked, pink ground beef with a higher risk of illness. If a thermometer is not available, do not eat ground beef that is still pink inside.
• Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm. Don't use recipes in which eggs emain raw or only partially cooked.
• Fish should be opaque and flake easily with a fork.
• When cooking in a microwave oven, make sure there are no cold spots in food where bacteria can survive. For best results, cover food, stir and rotate for even cooking. If there is no turntable, rotate the dish by hand once or twice during cooking.
• Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating. Heat other leftovers thoroughly to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

CHILL: Refrigerate Promptly

Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. So, set your refrigerator no higher than 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer unit at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Checking these temperatures occasionally with an appliance thermometer.

• Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared food and leftovers within two hours.
• Never defrost food at room temperature. Thaw food in the refrigerator, under cold running water or in the microwave. Marinate foods in the refrigerator.
• Divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers for quick cooking in the refrigerator.
• Don't pack the refrigerator. Cool air must circulate to keep food safe.

Fruits & Vegetables

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food, especially fresh whole fruits and vegetables and raw meat, poultry and fish. Clean under fingernails, too!
• Rinse raw produce in warm water. Don't use soap or other detergents. If necessary, and appropriate, use a small scrub brush to remove surface dirt.
• Store, cut, peeled and broken apart fruits and vegetables (such as melon balls) at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the refrigerator.

This information provided by the US Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

The Northwest Florida Area Agency on Aging, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) private, not-for-profit charitable organization funded under the Older Americans Act and the State of Florida Department of Elder Affairs.

Page was last updated on 6/29/2004.
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