EACH YEAR, FOODBORNE DISEASES SICKEN ABOUT 48 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE U.S. This cheerful estimate comes from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They go on to say that an estimated 128,000 of those people are hospitalized and about 3,000 of them die. Fortunately, CDC offers ways home cooks can reduce the risk of foodborne illness in the kitchen. They break their cooking safety tips into four categories: clean, separate, cook and chill.
Clean, clean, clean!
Germs that cause food poisoning can survive in many places and spread around your kitchen. Keeping things clean can help get rid of them.
- Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before starting to cook. While cooking, always wash hands after handling uncooked meat, chicken and other poultry, seafood, flour or eggs. CDC also says to wash your hands before eating.
- Wash all surfaces and utensils—counters, cutting boards and knives—with hot, soapy water. Rewash them between steps, as needed.
- Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under cold running water.
- Do NOT rinse chicken. We know this is a controversial point, but you’re going to cook the chicken to a temperature that will kill off any bacteria, and rinsing it can spread germs to other foods, the sink and the counter, and make you sick. CDC cites a USDA study that 1 in 7 people who cleaned their sink after rinsing chicken still had germs in the sink.
Separate, don’t cross-contaminate.
Raw meat, chicken and other poultry, seafood and eggs can spread germs to ready-to-eat food, so keep them separate.
- Start at the grocery store. When shopping, keep raw meat, poultry, seafood and their juices away from other foods.
- Keep raw or marinating meat, poultry, seafood and eggs separate from other foods in the refrigerator.
- Store raw meat, poultry and seafood in sealed containers—or wrap them so the juices don’t leak onto other foods.
- Use one cutting board or plate for raw meat, poultry and seafood, and a separate cutting board or plate for foods that won’t be cooked, such as produce and bread.
Cook to the right temperature.
Food is safely cooked when the internal temperature gets high enough to kill germs that can make you sick. The best way to tell if food is safely cooked is to use a food thermometer. You can’t tell if food is safely cooked by checking its color and texture (except for seafood).
- Whole cuts of beef, veal, lamb, and pork, including fresh ham: 145°F (then allow the meat to rest for 3 minutes before carving or eating)
- Fish with fins: 145°F or cook until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork
- Ground meats, such as beef and pork: 160°F
- All poultry, including ground chicken and turkey: 165°F
- Leftovers and casseroles: 165°F
Microwave food thoroughly. Follow recommended cooking and standing times. Letting food sit for a few minutes after microwaving allows cold spots to absorb heat from hotter areas and cook more completely.
- Know your microwave’s wattage. If your microwave is high wattage (800 watts or more), start with the minimum cooking time recommended. If it is low wattage (300–500 watts), use the maximum cooking time recommended.
- When reheating, use a food thermometer to make sure that microwaved food reaches 165°F.
Keep it cool, refrigerate promptly.
Bacteria can multiply rapidly if perishable food is left at room temperature or in the “Danger Zone” between 40°F and 140°F. Never leave it out for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour when temperatures are above 90°F).
- Keep your refrigerator at 40°F or below and your freezer at 0°F or below. If your refrigerator doesn’t have a built-in thermometer, keep an appliance thermometer inside it to check the temperature.
- Package warm or hot food into several clean, shallow containers and then refrigerate. It is okay to put small portions of hot food in the refrigerator since they will chill faster.
- Refrigerate perishable food (meat, seafood, dairy, cut fruit, some vegetables and cooked leftovers) within 2 hours. If the food is exposed to temperatures above 90°F, like a hot car or picnic, refrigerate it within 1 hour.
- Thaw frozen food safely in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Don’t thaw food on the counter—bacteria can multiply quickly in the parts of the food that reach room temperature.
Do as we say—and try to do. As much as possible, we try to follow CDC’s guidelines to keep us and our dinner guests safe. I wash my hands repeatedly throughout the prepping and cooking process, for instance. But in the heat of getting food on the table, sometimes we can get a little lax. And I’m the king of “does this look/ smell/ taste okay?”—particularly with dairy products and opened containers of broth. In terms of cooking to the right temperature, we’re fanatics with poultry, less so with seafood (we like our salmon pink inside). Thanks to CDC for helping keep us all safe.
And finally, Health Canada offers its own food safety guidelines and even provides a recipe-writing style guide for those who write about cooking. Thanks, Canada!