We have entered the month of December and this means Christmas is only a few weeks away! The rush for presents, sending out gifts on time, it all starts now. And so does the planning for the big Christmas Day feast. We want you to have good memories of the festive season, so here are some tips to help you avoid poisoning anyone.
The Four Steps
There are many more steps as you can imagine but here are the basics just to get you started.
-
Keep raw foods away from cooked food. If they are close, they can cross-contaminate and all the hard work you put into cooking and killing the bacteria will be to no avail.
-
Clean the surface you are working on. Ideally, you will clean your workspace with soap and water, followed by bleach. This can be a tough process to put into practice but it can save you a whole lot of pain later.
-
Promptly refrigerate and freeze foods. In an ideal world, you would freeze your raw ingredients within 2 hours of purchase or preparing. SIDE NOTE: do not defrost frozen foods on the kitchen counter. Defrost by placing it in the refrigerator.
-
Respect use-by-dates. They are there for a reason and for the sake of all the guests your food will be serving, follow the use-by-date. The date is there because after extended periods of time, organisms can begin to grow and cause harm if ingested.
If you would like more information on this topic or get the source URL for this article, then email us at [email protected]