Food safety tips – Taken from Food Safety Information Council https://www.foodsafety.asn.au/
Clean:
- Remember the 20/20 rule: wash hands for 20 seconds with warm soapy water dry hands for 20 seconds before starting to cook repeat frequently especially after handling raw meats, or vegetables with visible soil.
- Wash utensils and cutting boards with soap and warm water, and dry thoroughly, before handling different sorts of foods. This is particularly important when dealing with raw meats and vegetables.
Chill:
- After purchase, all refrigerated meat, poultry, dairy foods, vegetables, salad ingredients should be refrigerated at or below 5ºC.
- A fridge thermometer should be used to make sure the temperature is at or below 5ºC.
- Refrigerate leftovers promptly.
- Cooked food should be stored in covered containers and either put in the fridge to cool, or frozen immediately.
- Frozen foods should be defrosted in the fridge NOT on the kitchen bench.
- If in doubt, throw it out!
Cook:
- Cook chicken, minced or boned meats, hamburger, stuffed meats and sausages right through until they reach 75°C using a meat thermometer.
- Serve hot food steaming hot above 60ºC.
- Defrost frozen poultry and rolled and stuffed meats thoroughly before cooking.
- Always follow cooking instructions on packaged foods.
Separate:
- To avoid cross contamination keep raw and cooked foods separate when storing and preparing.
- Food should be stored in covered containers in the fridge and put raw meats and poultry in the bottom of the fridge so the juices don’t contaminate food on lower shelves.
- Don’t put cooked meat back on the plate the raw meat was on.
