Avoiding food poisoning

[Crazy Liz]

Hey, everybody, one of our newer cooks in this forum has just had a bout of food poisoning. I thought it would be a good idea to post tips and guidelines for newer cooks to help avoid this.

I'll start: I think the most important thing is to avoid cross-contamination. This means that anything that touches raw meat must be cleaned thoroughly - preferably with bleach or washed at a high temperature in the dishwasher - before touching any other food. This includes putting a cooked piece of meat on the same plate, or cutting or handling it with the same utensils as you did when it was raw. This is something barbecuers are often not careful enough about.

 

[bluedragonfly73]

That new cook would be me..lol..Not sure what I did or what happen but I seem to be the only one to get it..So obvioulsy I did something that my children to do.... So any ideas would be great I think sometimes I may not realize what I've touched when my two and five yr old along with my 9 and 11 are chanting where hungry.....while pulling at my pants.(my2 yr.old.) lol....SO HELP!!!

 

[_Orion]

Crazy Liz is absolutely right...

My knife is either in my hand being used or cleaned and put away...for food safety and kids safety.

Wash your hands ALL THE TIME.

I have one cutting board for poultry...one for meat...and one for veggies. The poultry and meat ones are the dishwasher safe variety...my veggie one is a wood butcher block.

Non-safe handling of food can be very dangerous. There are some horror stories...

 

[pegeler]

Just a quick note, friends..

While I agree 100% with the information being given about the use of your knives, cutting boards, hands, etc., I can not agree that our friend had food poisoning.

In a home situation, it is very unlikely that only one person would contract food poisoning if they were all eating the same food! If that was the case, then it had to be a dish that ONLY bluedragonfly73 ate.

Having said that, I join all the rest in urging extreme caution in the kitchen. When I'm cooking, I like to keep the sink full of hot, soapy water, and EVERYTHING goes into it once it's been used. If I need it again, I WASH IT! Constant hand-washing is another must.

At any rate, keep it clean, and keep your self and your family healthy.

Blessings,
Pete

 

[Lambkins]

Another Kitchen tip ~ Keep hot foods hot ~ cold foods cold.

 

[mle]

There are many great food safe handling suggestions here.

My tip is to cook meat until it has reached the safe internal temprature. You can check with a meat thermomiter until you get used to food handling. I still use mine from time to time.

 

[pastel]

Another tip is to always cool the food down after dinner before sealing it in an airtight container and putting it in the fridge. If it is still warm to the touch, and you need to leave - place it in the fridge with the lid slightly ajar on it so it continues to cool. When you return, then seal it. Airtight hot to warm foods will give you food poisoning! So beware.

 

[pastel]

If you open canned goods, and they "pop" or spray a little liquid out (or their contents) ... throw it out. It is bad. Go through your pantry every few months to get the canned goods that are swollen out, or that you perceive are older than a year old.

 

[BarbaraJean]

I recommend taking a food handler's class. Just check with your local health department. They're free.

 

[Crazy Liz]

Another tip is to always cool the food down after dinner before sealing it in an airtight container and putting it in the fridge. If it is still warm to the touch, and you need to leave - place it in the fridge with the lid slightly ajar on it so it continues to cool. When you return, then seal it. Airtight hot to warm foods will give you food poisoning! So beware.

I've never heard this before. Where does this information come from?

It seems the opposite of the principles of food preservation. When you're canning or making jelly, it is important to seal out all the air while the food is still too hot for microorganisms. I'm really interested in understanding this principle.

 

[Maeyken]

I think it's because when you're canning, you seal out the germs cuz the food is very hot when you close the jar.

With leftovers, they're not real hot, and you're not going to be able to get ALL the air out. If you seal the container, the hot air stays in, and stays hot longer, delaying the food from cooling. By leaving the lid open a bit it allows the food to cool down faster. Does that make sense? That's just my guess...

 

[cavymom]

I buy disposable gloves from the store and use them whenever I need to handle raw meat with my hands, like making hamburger or meatloaf.

I also have a rule of not reheating food three times. Say you make spagetti sauce with extra sauce on monday (1), then you use the extra sauce for lunch tuesday (2) then have leftovers on tuesday night (that's 3-throw it out)

Plus I don't eat food after it's been in the fridge three days, it's not worth the risk and if it's still in there everyone's probably lost interest in it.

 

[Paid in full]

Rather than use wooden chopping boards use glass.Easier to clean.

 

[Troll Doll]

I throw all food out that is older than two days old. Extra precaution on my part. It's true sealed hot foods will give botulism. That's why people get botulism with turkey dressing stuffed into the turkeys, and it's not allowed to cool down when they put in the fridge. That's probably the most common way of getting food poisoning.

 

[valerielynn]

Hello...one time I thawed some hamburger out anf for some reason put it back in the freezer..then I made meatloaf...about 5 hours later we were both in seperate bathrooms sicker than mules....for the next week we were so sick we couldnt move...it took 2 weeks for me to come around!

 

[AveMaria]

My favorite food safety rule:

When in doubt, throw it out!

 

[Maeyken]

My favorite food safety rule:

When in doubt, throw it out!

That's a good rule! My problem is that sometimes the expiry date hasn't come yet... I have a hard time parting with food that isn't officially expired. Usually though, I end up leaving it in the fridge till it reaches the expiry date then throwing it out. Not a great system! haha

 

[Raives]

The temperture danger zone for food is 40F-145F Food should never stay within this zone for more than 4 hrs. The less time the food remains with in these temps the better. Be carefull with your dish rags and sponges they can contain more bacteria than your cutting board. Avoid cross contamination the most common is transfering salmonella from your chicken to your vegetables by not cleaning off your knife in between uses.

Avoid cooking stuffing in side your turkey. If you want to stuff the bird, wait untill after the Bird is cooked and then stuff it for your presentation. The inside of the cavity can cause the stuffing to not get cooked fully and to promote Salmonella poisoning.

Make sure that you clean your vegetables, more people get sick off of dirty vegetables and fruits than any thing else.

 

[Paid in full]

Make sure that you clean your vegetables, more people get sick off of dirty vegetables and fruits than any thing else.

That's one thing I don't do will now I know that!!!!

 

[dicentra spectabilis]

When we have parties, especially in the summer, we take a kiddie pool, put it on top of the table, fill it halfway with ice, add a little water, and cover the ice water with a plastic tablecloth. Then we put all the bowls of cold salads, etc... on top of the tablecloth and sort of nest them down below the level of the ice. It looks nice, and it keeps all our cold foods cold. For hot foods, we usually use crock pots or sternos.