How to keep your food safe and avoid getting sick

Did you know that every year around 90% of individuals fell sick due to food poisoning? Food poisoning not only sends people to the hospital every year, however, it can also lead to long-term diseases. The quality of food that you consume determines your health and lifestyle. The best healthy eating and storage practices can help you a long way to keep food safe and away from illness-causing germs.

These balanced food safety techniques help to prevent food poisoning as well as foodborne illness. You can also go for a food safety supervisor course to learn the relevant knowledge and skills to keep food safe for day to day uses as well as safely handle food at your food business. The following are some useful steps that will teach you how to keep your food safe and avoid getting sick?

#1 Wash hands and Clean Utensils, and Kitchen Surface Often

Disease-causing germs can develop in numerous spots around your kitchen, including your hands, food and chopping boards. So, first, start with the basic terms:
Follow the right way to wash your hands:
• Use plain hand sanitizer or soap and water and scrub your hands from overall, at the backs, between fingers, and under your nails as well for about 20 seconds.
• After washing hands thoroughly, rinse your hands, and dry them with a clean towel.
• Wash your hands frequently, particularly before, after and during preparing food, before eating, After Eating, after using the toilet, after coughing, sneezing or blowing your nose, etc.
Follow the right way to wash utensils and surfaces:
• Thoroughly wash the chopping boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops with soapy and hot water especially if they are eggs, seafood, raw meat, and poultry.
• Wash dishcloths frequently using the hot cycle of your washing machine.
Follow the right way to wash vegetables & fruits etc.:
• Cut-away any bruised or damaged part of fruits and vegetables, then only wash them with running water. Make sure you don’t use any soap. Or bleach to wash fruits and veggies.

• The scrub firm produces products like cucumbers or melons with a neat & clean produce brush.
• Don’t wash packed meat, poultry or eggs as they are pre-washed.

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#2 Keep Separate Certain Types of Food

• Always use separate utensils and cutting boards for raw and cooked foods.
• Wash all plates, utensils and cutting boards thoroughly as they might have touched eggs, raw meat, seafood or poultry, so wash them with soapy hot water to use them again. Use hot, soapy water.
• Keep your food like raw meat, seafood, eggs, etc. separate from other eatable items in your shopping cart. Keep them in separate bags from other foods while checking out your.
• At home, store raw meat, poultry, and seafood in sealed plastic containers or bags. Keep them in the freezer if you’re not going to use them immediately.
• Keep eggs in their carton in the fridge, not in the refrigerator door.

#3 Cook Food at the Right Temperature

Cook your food at the right temperature to kill germs because these germs can make you ill:
Using a food thermometer you can ensure that your food is safe. At the point when you think your food is cooked, keep the thermometer on the thickest portion of the food and ensure not to touch them.
In case you’re not serving food right away after cooking, keep it by utilizing a heat source like a warming tray, slow cooker or chafing dish, etc.

Must Read: Health and Nutrition Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

#4 Chill and Freeze Your Food Properly

• Germs that cause food poisoning develop quickly between 40°F and 140°F.
• Don’t leave perishable food items out of the refrigerator for a longer duration. If, in case you exposed the food to temperatures above 90°F, immediately refrigerate it within an hour otherwise it can get infected and will result in illness.
• Use shallow containers to keep leftovers foods in the fridge that let you cool your food quickly.

Conclusion

Most of the health problems come from your food and lifestyle. Follow these four simple principles – Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill to keep your food safe from harmful diseases that can make you sick.

Following these methods doesn’t take much effort but they can help you to build a healthy lifestyle and keep you safe from life harming Still, need tips for food safety? Want to monitor all your food handles in your business?

Go ahead for a food safety supervisor course to learn relevant food safety skills to ensure that all food handling tasks in your business and in your home kitchen are safely and properly carried out. It will definitely help you to learn about how you can maintain proper hygiene and handle your food safely.