The following is a list of the commonsense techniques that will do well for most of us. For those of you cooking for anyone in a High Risk Group - defined as the elderly, infants and toddlers, and anyone with chronic disease effecting the immune system - it is worthwhile to do comprehensive research in food safety. I would recommend the site, http://www.FoodSafety.gov. It’s readable and thorough.
Before we get to specifics, you do need to memorize two important numbers: 40 degrees and 140 degrees. This is the danger temperature zone at which bacteria multiply really happily. Remember “life begins at 40”.
Start thinking of food safety when you’re buying the food, not just when you’ve gotten it home. At the store, look for four things. Is there a clean smell to the food? Is any perishable food well packaged, e.g. is the meat leaking? Are cold foods chilled, and frozen foods really frozen? Finally, is there any rotting food still for sale, or worse, mixed with fresh food?
Once home, any perishable food should be stored immediately in the refrigerator and freezer. Both of these should be checked regularly for proper temperature. The refrigerator should be at 40 degrees or below. To keep food properly frozen and in optimal condition, the freezer should be 0 degrees or lower. You can buy refrigerator/freezer thermometers at http://www.kitchenetc.com/ with the appropriate ranges marked in red, for either $5 or $6.00.
When starting to prepare food, remember the dangerous temperature zone. You don’t want the food to stay in the zone much longer than two hours. This is why you do not thaw food on the kitchen counter – thaw in the refrigerator, microwave, or in the sink surrounded by cold water.
During food preparation it’s not hard to keep things clean. First, foremost, and always, the single best thing to do to keep food safe is to wash your hands in the hottest water you can stand. If you like - especially when cutting raw meat and poultry, garlic, and hot peppers - use latex gloves. They’re easily found in the drugstore; the ones with talcum powder come off easily. I also use gloves when kneading dough – you can remove the glove and answer the phone without getting raw dough over everything.
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