Hello Beautiful!
How do you practice food safety at your home?
The strong foundations of developing healthy choices begin at home. This is why it is important for parents to set a good standard in healthy eating, food preparation, and storage that the little ones can pick up on.
One of the most basic things that kids can learn from their parents are their habits when shopping for day-to-day necessities, and their practice when cooking and storing food in the house.
By observing proper purchasing, handling, cooking, and storing, parents ensure that the family consumes safe and healthy food, and at the same time, they also teach their kids how to practice food safety that they’ll carry and pass on in the future.
So here are 7 food safety tips for every household:
1. Buy food from trusted establishments
Buying food from established and reliable retail establishments guarantees that products and other items sold there have gone through stringent quality control. This ensures sanitation and safety for the whole family.
2. Meat comes after non-perishables
When doing grocery shopping, purchase refrigerated or frozen meat and poultry after selecting your non-perishables. It’s also important to make sure that chilled and frozen goods are stored below the load line of the freezing unit, and not at room temperature.
3. Do not buy items past “sell by” “use by” and expiry date
Safety and quality may be compromised if food has expired, so be sure to always check the expiry date shown on the packaging before putting something in the shopping cart. It is also important to know what these marks mean.
The sell-by date is a guide for stores to know how long they can display a particular product, and one should buy the product before the sell-by date. But you can still store it at home for some time beyond that date, as long as you follow safe storage procedures
Whereas, the “use-by” and “best before” dates tell how long the product is likely to remain at its absolute best quality when unopened. But as long as you’ve been storing the unopened item properly, you can generally consume it beyond this date, just make sure to check for off-odor, flavor, and appearance.
4. Practice proper hand-washing
Several studies have shown that the kitchen in every home contains the most bacteria, which is alarming considering that this is where all the food is prepared and stored. With hands being one of the main ways to spread germs, it’s important to always wash hands thoroughly before cooking and after touching raw food.
5. Cook food thoroughly at the right temperature
Cooking food thoroughly will ensure that any harmful bacteria present in it will be killed. Some of the most common food that should be cooked well are pork, sausages, and poultry. As for poultry, it doesn’t even need to be washed beforehand as long as it is cooked properly.
If cooked food will not be consumed immediately, it has to be left to cool at room temperature for at least an hour and a half before being stored in the refrigerator. Putting hot food in the refrigerator means uneven cooling that can cause food poisoning.
6. Properly store and consume milk
Milk is one of the household staples that require proper storing and consumption. Choose ready-to-drink milk that goes through UHT treatment so that it can be stored at room temperature without the need for refrigeration until the package is opened such as Selecta Milk products in Tetra Pak cartons.
Selecta’s portfolio of 1-liter packs includes Selecta Fortified Milk, Selecta Full Cream Milk, Selecta Fortified Low Fat Milk, and Selecta Moo Milk Chocolate allowing options for the entire family. These also come with resealable caps for easy opening, pouring, and storing back in the fridge.
Selecta Milk in Tetra Pak cartons stays safe and nutritious even at room temperature as long as the carton remains unopened. However, make sure to refrigerate upon opening.
7. Keep foods covered and sealed
Store refrigerated foods in covered containers or sealed storage bags, especially meat. Make sure they keep from touching each other and that it doesn’t drip onto other items. Refrigerated leftovers should always be checked daily for spoilage.
These are just some of the most basic food safety tips that should be practiced in every household. Kids at home will eventually pick up on the pattern if observed regularly at home and will know what is safe and healthy for them.
Disclaimer: Thank you to RFM Corporation for sending me this full bag of juices and milk. Am loving it!
Those are helpful tips. I'm also meticulous when it comes to proper handling of foods especially the raw meat
ReplyDeleteAnd avoid overstocking of meat. Even its frozen, sometimes it not good to cook anymore. Lesson I've got to my Mom.
DeleteThese are great tips Blair. I have two little one at home so I definitely have to set a good example. Hopefully, I can do well and they don't turn out to be picky eaters.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo,
DeleteAm a firm believer of whatever you offsprings becomes is due to the way the grown-ups build/guide them.
thanks for the tips, i think all of them are very useful and comprehensive. Food cleanliness is very important for keeping us from falling sick.
ReplyDeleteYeah, taking the precautions are cheaper than hospitalization.
DeleteI agree with your assessment and I always shopped reputable brands as well though there are times they can be a let down too
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's why we still need to be vigilant on what we buy even its from reputable brands.
DeleteA good education. A good pratice in handling food is important.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Betty!
DeleteCheers to the tips dear, will certainly take note on this :) Food safety is definitely a priority and how to store them well is another great addition to that.
ReplyDeleteI agree. So it is also good to invest on good quality food containers. No plastics.
DeleteThanks for sharing these wonderful tips. Oftentimes, we overlook the need to keep our food clean and contamination-free.
ReplyDeleteI agree, you show not forget our safety first. These are just very simple and wouldn't take out entire time to do it.
DeleteGreat tips. Esp when it comes to meat and milk, the expiry date and correct temperature to store are so very important!
ReplyDeleteMay I also add, buy only what you can consume. Oftentimes overstocking is not good.
Deletejuice and milk are healthy drinks. thanks for the tips xoxo
ReplyDeleteYou are always welcome Wai Yee :) Thank you for visiting our blog!
DeleteWill bookmark this for reference to ensure the food safety that I've bought.
ReplyDeleteThank you Shini, you are so kind :)
DeleteI do squeeze fresh juice everyday now and then, but the cleaning is really pain in the ass. just saying hehe
ReplyDeleteLOL yeah I know, but its is better to do it than sorry, right? :D
DeleteI make sure to do all of this. I do not want to poison my poor family, ha.
ReplyDeleteThat juice looks tasty!
I agree. Better be safe than be sorry after.
Deleteaww ... love ur boots ...
ReplyDeleteopps ... wrong focus point ...
hahaha thank you dear! But I've already bid goodbye for that boots (so sad) I'll share why on my next post.
DeleteThose are really great tips to keep in mind. Thank god i practice all of it at home too :)
ReplyDeleteHello Aliza,
DeleteThat's great! Keep on sharing these tips to your friends to help them practice good/proper food storage.
Very interesting topic, I enjoy reading it. Thanks for the useful information.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ivy for always visiting us :)
DeleteThank you for sharing tips for food safety. Sometimes we are not careful with opened milk, we always forget about it once opened. That brand is also yummy :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, these brands are my favorite!
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