World Food Safety Day 2023: It is an ideal occasion to draw attention and inspire action to prevent, detect and manage food-borne diseases. Scroll down to know more.
World Food Safety Day 2023: The global event of World Food Safety Day is observed every year to spread awareness regarding the importance of food safety and its impact on our health. Food safety plays a major determinant in our health and well-being. It is necessary to be mindful of food safety standards to ensure safe and healthy food for consumption. World Food Safety Day 2023 is an ideal occasion to draw attention and inspire action to prevent, detect and manage food-borne diseases. On this special occasion, here are some healthy hygiene habits to promote food safety.
Essential Hygiene Practices For Safe And Healthy Food
1. Cleaning
Before preparing any meals, remember to wash the raw food items such as vegetables or fruits thoroughly. Also, wash your hands in warm water for at least 20 seconds before and after touching the food items. Wash the cutting boards, countertops, utensils and other things that you use for cooking the food. However, the Food and Drug Administration (ADA) advises to not wash meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. If water splashes from the sink in the process of washing, it can spread bacteria.
2. Separate Raw Foods
You should always maintain a practice of keeping the raw foods separate from other food items. Remember to keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs away from others. Use separate cutting boards and knives for raw foods.
3. Cooking
Be careful while cooking the food. While cooking, make sure to be aware of the food temperatures and cook accordingly. Cook to safe temperatures for different foods, for example, you should cook beef, pork, fish and lamb at 145 °F, and ground beef, pork and lamb at 160 °F.
4. Refrigeration
There are rules for refrigerating the food as well. It involves keeping the foods at a temperature, between 0 °C and 8 °C, close to the freezing point. It is an important storage technique practised around the world to preserve food. According to ADA, put foods in the fridge or freezer within 2 hours after cooking or buying from the store. Do this within 1 hour if it is 90 degrees or hotter outside.
5. Mindful Storage
It is important to be mindful of where you store your food to protect it from contamination and bacteria. If the food is not stored properly, the bacteria in it multiply and become more dangerous to health. The Colorado State University states that proper food storage helps to preserve the quality and nutritional value of the foods you purchase, and also helps make the most of your food dollar by preventing spoilage.
