Food Safety Tips For the Summer
Food Safety Tips For the Summer
By Lucy Penn
Summer is the perfect time to entertain – the weather is fine (sometimes!) and the evenings are long, and there’s nothing better than a barbecue with friends. But did you know that food poisoning cases double during the summer months? There’s nothing worse than worrying about whether the food you’ve prepared is cooked properly, so follow these food safety tips and sit back and relax, knowing you and your guests are safe from harm:
1.) Wash your hands thoroughly using soap and warm water before starting to prepare food, and regularly whilst you are preparing food, including after touching raw food. Drying your hands thoroughly is also very important as harmful germs spread more easily on damp hands.
2.) Keep work surfaces clean and change dish cloths and tea towels regularly, even if they still look clean.
3.) Avoid cross-contamination and separate raw meat & fish from ready-to-eat food. Never use the same chopping board or utensils without washing them thoroughly in-between. Raw meat & fish should be stored on the bottom shelf of your fridge to prevent it dripping onto other food.
4.) Check food labels to make sure all the food you are going to use has been stored correctly and is not past its ‘use-by’ date.
5.) Thorough cooking kills harmful germs such as Salmonella and E.coli. Check food is hot enough by cutting it open with a small knife to see that it’s steaming hot in the middle. When checking meat, cut into the middle to check there is no pink meat left. Whole birds such as chicken need to be pierced at the thickest part of the leg until juices run out – these juices should be free from any pink or red colour. Leftovers should be stored in the fridge and eaten within two days.
6.) When barbecuing food, wait until the charcoal is glowing red, with a powdery grey surface, before you start to cook. Turn food regularly and move it around the barbecue to cook it evenly – don’t assume that because the meat is charred on the outside that it is cooked on the inside. If it is easier, you can cook the meat indoors, and then finish it off on the barbecue for added flavour.
Remember these important tips to keep you and your family safe from food poisoning. Pulse First Aid offer a range of food safety courses suitable for people with little or no knowledge of food safety, to those who would like to have a more advanced understanding of food safety.
Lucy Penn is an online marketer and researcher who is currently researching First Aid Courses and Food Safety Courses.
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