Food Safety - What Dietitians Do

Authors: Lucie Liang, McGill dietetics student & Sophia Zheng, registered dietitian

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the following article are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect those of Foodoc.

Living in Canada, summer is the season we appreciate with all our heart. The few months of sunlight open the door for outdoor fun, let it be camping, getting a tan on the beach or simply chilling on the balcony. Unfortunately, summer doesn’t only bring us the beautiful weather, but also more food hazards. If you don’t want guests of your BBQ party end up being in the washroom all day next day, it’s a good idea to learn how to handle food safely.

Storage

Coming back home with a huge trunkful of grocery? Let’s put everything away first. After a long journey in the tropical zone, the perishable foods need your rescue asap. These include dairy, egg, meat, seafood, some vegetables and fruits and any frozen food. Below is a checklist helping you get through the storing process:

Ensure frozen foods are still frozen, and refrigerated foods are out of the Temperature Danger Zone (40~~140 ⁰F / 4~~60 ⁰C) within two hours. If it’s a long ride, put the perishable items in a cooler bag filled with ice packs.
Keep raw seafood, meat and poultry well wrapped and stored at the bottom of the fridge to prevent dripping liquid contaminating other foods.
Leave adequate space in the fridge to ensure good air circulation.
Check the temperature of your fridge regularly. The refrigerator should be below 40 ⁰F / 4 ⁰C and the freezer should be below 0 ⁰F / -18 ⁰C.
For dry foods, store in their original package or in tightly sealed containers and ensure the storage area is out of sunlight, well ventilated and has low-humidity.
Use first-in, first-out method.

Preparation

The kitchen is a pleasant place where scents of food and happiness come from, but it’s where foodborne illness starts. Here are the precautions you can take to reduce the risk:

Wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Wear clean clothes in the kitchen to avoid pathogen transmission.
Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water to remove dirt before further processing. For leafy greens, wash each leaf separately. Organic products require a proper shower as well as there could still be dirt and traces of the pesticide on them.
Marinate raw food in the fridge, not on the counter under room temperature.
Avoid cross-contamination by keeping raw meat, poultry and seafood away from other food, and clean the cutting board and other tools used with hot soapy water before handling other food.
Thaw frozen food using one of the methods below and never re-freeze:
- Slower way: put the item into the fridge for 12-24 hours and make sure the thawing juices do not drip onto other food.
- Quicker way: wrap the item in a sealed bag and submerge it in cold water (below 70 ⁰F / 21 ⁰C). Change the water every 30 minutes.
- Even quicker: use the thawing mode of your microwave (only for small batch of food and need to cook right away).

Cooking

Cooking is the most fun step and also the most critical one to kill harmful microorganisms. A calibrated food thermometer is much more reliable than “best guess”, especially for new cooks. Keep these points in mind to minimize risk:

Measure temperature in several places to make sure the food has reached the following minimal internal temperatures:
- Poultry: 185 ⁰F/85 ⁰C
- Red meat: 160 ⁰F/71 ⁰C
- Seafood: 158 ⁰F/70 ⁰C
Cook to completion at once instead of leaving a dish partially cooked and finish later.
Finished cooking but still waiting for everyone to get back home? Keep hot food at or above 140 ⁰F/60 ⁰C, cold food at or below 40 ⁰F/4 ⁰C.
Do not mix new with old food, or raw with cooked food.

Cooling and Reheating

Dealing with leftovers is a delicate process since foods pass the Temperature Danger Zone (40~~140 ⁰F / 4~~60 ⁰C) many times during the cooling and re-heating process.

Any food left out in the Temperature Danger Zone for more than two hours needs to be discarded since unwanted microorganisms have already thrived.
Use safe cooling methods such as ice-water bath, shallow pans and reduction of portion size.
Never put too much hot food in the fridge as it would heat up the space and expose everything else in danger
Cooked leftovers should be used within four days and reheated to 165 ⁰F /74 ⁰C for at least 15 seconds before consuming.
Reheat only how much you need and only once. If still not finished, discard it.
When using the microwave, stir half way through and allow one-minute of standing to achieve similar temperatures inside and out.

Foodborne illness could get to us easily and its chance of success is even greater in hot and moist weather. By keeping these rules in mind, we would be leaving only pleasant memories and never worry about those GI issues on days following the big party!