Food Safety at Home
We all expect our shops to sell us food that is safe, but how can we be sure that the food we buy and take home is safe?
Top tips for buying your food:
- always check use by and best before dates marked on package labels
- take chilled food straight home and use an insulated bag if possible
- look out for poor shop hygiene
- don't accept damaged packages
- make sure that raw meat or poultry is completely wrapped
- when packing your shopping bag, keep raw foods and ready-to-eat foods apart
- try to buy chilled or frozen foods last
- pack chilled and frozen food together, preferably in a cool bag
At home, careless handling can lead to bacteria growing on your food. If you then eat this food, you could easily get food poisoning. One bacterium can turn into one million bacteria in less than seven hours at warm temperatures. So if you leave your food out on the worktop, or don't cook it thoroughly, you could be heading for trouble. Remember that communicable diseases such as salmonella can cause severe illness and sometimes death.
Top tips for keeping food safe at home:
- take chilled food straight home after purchase, then put in your fridge or freezer at once
- prepare and store raw and cooked foods separately. Keep raw meat and fish at the bottom of the fridge
- keep the coldest part of your fridge at 0-5°C
- check use by dates. Don't keep food beyond this date
- wash hands thoroughly before preparing food, after handling raw meat or fish, after going to the toilet or after handling pets
- keep pets away from food dishes and work tops
- keep your kitchen clean. Wash worktops and utensils between handling raw food and cooked food.
- cook food thoroughly. Follow the instructions on the pack. If you reheat food, make sure it is piping hot
- do not eat food containing uncooked eggs. Keep eggs in the fridge
- stir microwave food halfway through cooking. Make sure it is piping hot before serving and observe any standing times to make sure it is cooked thoroughly
- keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Don't just leave them standing around
Planning a BBQ - Read our top tips for barbecuing safely