With the upcoming holiday season, we all start making plans about arranging get-togethers in the backyards, but do you know that it is very useful to follow some food safety guidelines? In this blog, we bring some of them, suggested by professional food handlers to ensure that your holidays go safe, healthy, and happy.
Set Out A Plan
One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind to make your holiday parties safe is to start with a plan so have a master plan set out for yourself. This is something that even the top chefs do, and so should you. It means that you must have all the proper heating and cooling devices ready. If you are planning to cook a larger amount of food, remember that it may require more space and you want to be prepared for this rather than realizing it when it is too late. So, it is always good to go safe with a plan.
Wash Your Hands
This is one of the most common practices followed by even professionals having a food handlers certificate. The reason here is to avoid food contamination due to the transfer of bacteria from one item to another. It is especially useful during the holidays when there are so many colds and flu going around. It helps minimize the risk of bacterial contamination and helps keep your food safe.
Wash all Fresh Produce
Apart from washing your hands regularly after every 20 minutes, you should also make sure to wash all fresh produce as well. Many people ignore washing the greens and packaged items, but it is suggested to wash them all before cooking in order to minimize potential bacterial contamination. Sometimes, just rinsing it under cool water will be enough.
Defrost Properly
Professional safe food handling specialists recommend that all the items that have been frozen should be defrosted before cooking. While it can take a lot of time, it is a very useful food safety practice that you must follow. For example, if you want to use a frozen turkey then you are going to want to allocate 24 hours per 5 pounds to defrost. If required, you must also leave the bird on the counter to defrost the rest of the way. Using warm water is also a useful choice as this will save a lot of your time and can also kill some mild bacteria from the meat.
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Be Extra Careful With Eggs
One of the most common tips you must follow to ensure safe food preparation during the festival season is to be careful when cooking eggs. There are many recipes that call for uncooked eggs, it is important to keep in mind that in these cases you should be using pasteurized eggs. To be on the safer side, it is recommended to at least cook the yolks lightly to make sure you kill any potential salmonella bacteria.