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Actually, mayonnaise is made with pasteurized products and contains lemon juice, which contains a high level of acidity, preventing the mayonnaise from spoiling. It is no more likely to spoil than any other food. However, it is unsafe to leave any perishable food out for more than two hours.This myth probably originated from when mayonnaise was made with raw eggs, which are often bacteria carriers. 2. Washing poultry and meat will help prevent foodborne illnesses. Washing poultry can remove surface pathogens, if done correctly. However, most people don’t wash their meat correctly, and end up cross-contaminating the kitchen. For this reason, its safer just to cook your meat to the correct temperature, which kills all surface and internal pathogens. 3. Using hand sanitizer is as effective as washing your hands. Partially true. In normal day to day life, using alcohol-based hand sanitizer is actually more effective than washing your hands, especially since many people do not wash their hands correctly. Hand sanitizer kills microbes, while hand washing is the mechanical removal of the microbes from your skin. However, if you’ve just worked with a bunch of raw hamburger, and you have a thick coating of fat over your skin, hand sanitizer won’t be very effective. The best solution is a combination: wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, dry them, and sanitize. 4. No pink color in meat means it is done and safe to eat. It might be done, but the only way to make sure is to check it with a thermometer. Meat color is determined by pH, not by temperature, and the only way to make sure that harmful pathogens are killed off by cooking is to cook food to the correct internal temperature. The FDA recommends the following: * Ground beef: 160°F (71°C) * Poultry: 165°F (74°C) * Pork: 160°F (71°C) 5. You can thaw meat safely in the refrigerator, microwave or on the counter. The safest place to thaw meat or poultry is in the refrigerator, which keeps it out of the temperature danger zone when bacteria are likely to multiply rapidly. If you need to thaw meat quickly, defrost it in the microwave and then cook it immediately. Never thaw meat on the counter—it increases the risk of cross-contamination and gives bacteria the opportunity to multiply quickly. 6. Contaminated food smells or tastes funny. If your food smells or tastes funny do not eat it, it may be spoiled. However, dangerous bacteria such as E. coli, Listeria or Salmonella have no odor and are undetectable to human senses. 7. If you begin to feel sick, it must be the last thing you ate. Actually, most people with a foodborne illness will not show symptoms anywhere from a few hours to more than a week after eating a contaminated meal. It is important to contact health officials if you think you contracted a foodborne illness. They can help trace the source of potential infections. 8. If you eat organic, you can worry less about contracting a foodborne illness. Wrong. You are just as likely to contract a foodborne illness eating organic lettuce as you are eating regular lettuce. However, eating certain organic foods might lower your consumption of pesticides. 9. Eating butter left out on the counter will make you sick. This one is partially true. Salted butter does not spoil nearly as quickly as other dairy products, but if you decide to leave it out cover it to prevent cross-contamination and use it within a few days. 10. If food has mold on it, it is still okay to eat as long as you cut the mold off. Visible mold usually indicates the food product has been thoroughly invaded by mold and should be thrown out. The mold spots that are visible to the naked eye are mature colonies of mold spores. The mold is not confined to these patches though. Invisible threads of immature mold extend away from the spores and into what may appear to be a fresh and uncontaminated portion of food. However, it is okay to cut off a large area around a mold spot on hard cheeses.
The United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends that refrigerators be set at 4°C or below to protect contents from spoiling. Ideally, an entire refrigerator unit should stay between 2°C and 4°C so that all areas are safe for storage of any food. If your fridge does not have a built-in feature that displays the temperature, invest in an appliance thermometer. Should your power go out during a summer thunderstorm, the appliance thermometer will help you determine what stays and what goes; foods remaining at a temperature of 4°C or above for two hours or more should not be eaten. • Meats should be tightly wrapped or sealed and placed on the bottom shelf, the coldest part of the fridge, to avoid juice drippings from contaminating other foods. • Dairy products should not be placed in the door, one of the warmest parts of the refrigerator. Instead, place eggs and milk as close to the bottom shelf as possible. Butter and cheese can sit comfortably on the top or middle shelf. • Fruits and vegetables can be placed on the top shelf. You’ll see them and want to eat them, and they will also stay at the perfect temperature. Leafy greens should sit in the crisper. • Condiments are well-suited for the door with their high natural preservatives. Orange juice works just fine here, too, since it contains a high amount of citric acid. Freezers, on the other hand, should be set between -18°C and -13°C. Of course, items here will last a long time, but don’t let freezer burn take over your food supply! Uncooked bacon, sausage, and hot dogs are good to go for one to two months. Ground meat will last three to four months, pork chops four to six months, and steaks four to 12 months. Chicken nuggets are safe for nine months, while a whole raw chicken will last for a year. While it may seem like a great idea to cool off in front of an open refrigerator or freezer door, this practice is not recommended. Fridge and freezer doors should not be opened more than necessary, and should remain tightly closed when you’re not gathering ingredients. This will keep your food supply from growing bacteria and going bad quickly. Keep Food Safe – A food safety video from m.chin on Vimeo. Food poisoning — also called food-borne illness — causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Food poisoning is caused by harmful organisms such as bacteria in contaminated food. Because bacteria typically don’t change the taste, smell or appearance of food, you can’t tell whether a food is dangerous to eat. So if you’re in doubt about a food’s safety, it’s best to throw it out. Fortunately, most cases of food poisoning can be prevented with proper food handling. To practice food safety, quickly refrigerate perishable foods such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs — don’t let them sit more than two hours at typical room temperature or more than one hour at temperatures above 32°C. Uncooked foods, such as cold salads or sandwiches, also should be eaten or refrigerated promptly. Your goal is to minimize the time a food is in the “danger zone” — between 4° C and 60° C — when bacteria can multiply. Before eating leftovers, reheat them thoroughly. Reheat leftover sauces, soups and gravies to boiling. If you’re using the oven to reheat leftovers, set the temperature no lower than 163° C to ensure they’re reheated quickly. Because they may not get hot enough, slow cookers and chafing dishes aren’t recommended for reheating leftovers. To safely reheat cooked food in a microwave oven: * Cover foods with a lid or a microwave-safe plastic wrap to hold in moisture and provide safe, even heating. Turn back a corner for the steam to vent. * After reheating foods in the microwave oven, allow standing time. Then, use a clean food thermometer to check that food has reached 74° C. How long can I keep meat in the refrigerator? What would we do without our refrigerators! When it comes to appliances that keep our foods safe, the refrigerator may be the most important because it slows down the growth of bacteria that cause food poisoning. At temperatures between 4 and 60 °C, bacteria grows most rapidly. That’s why we call this temperature range “the Danger Zone.” A refrigerator set to 4 °C or below will protect most foods – but not forever. The cool temperatures slow down bacterial growth but they don’t stop the growth completely. So, it’s important to use food in a timely fashion to help maintain freshness and quality. Over time, even chilled foods will spoil. Here are some basic guidelines for storing meat in the refrigerator.
Because we get so many questions about storing food safely in the refrigerator, we put together this chart, which lists storage times for all sorts of meats and meat products: Storage Times for the Refrigerator and Freezer It’s a great resource, and we recommend that you bookmark this page or print it out for future reference.
Egg Storage Chart
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Sunday, 5 September 2010  Pay your bills online If every house in the US did this then we would save 18 million trees every year.  |
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1. Mayonnaise spoils more readily than other foods.
In this warm weather, it’s important to stay cool. Keeping yourself, your family, and your home at the proper temperature is key as the mercury rises. The same is true for your groceries and produce! With this heat, now is a great time to check your fridge and freezer and make sure that their settings are optimal to keep your food fresh and lasting as long as possible.