Food safety is a core part of the process, whether you are a first-time, at-home cook or a veteran. Applying a few simple rules can help prevent cross-contamination, food poisoning and any other foodborne illnesses.
For families, this is a critically important step as young children are more vulnerable to foodborne diseases and poisoning. This also applies to the elderly and anyone with a weak immune system.
The Food Advisory Consumer Service of South Africa has reported that food poisoning is widely prevalent in South Africa, regardless of the numbers directly reported, saying: “South Africa reports just a few hundred cases of food poisoning per year, whereas the incidences are more likely to be in the region of hundreds of thousands of cases.”
This statement has been upheld by the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) in an article that states: “Every year, 600 million people fall sick – this is almost one in 10 people in the world that fall ill after eating contaminated food.”
Food safety extends to more than just washing your hands, although this is a very important step in the process of cooking at home; attention to detail is required from start to finish. Here are four principles to apply to ensure food safety at home.
1. Cleanliness
- Ensure that your hands are washed before and during the process of handling food items. As we learnt from Covid, to ensure that your hands are thoroughly clean, use antibacterial soap and wash your hands for 20 seconds.
- Ensure all surfaces in the kitchen are clean, having been wiped down using an antibacterial cleaning solution. This process must be implemented before and after food preparation.
- Ensure all fresh produce is rinsed thoroughly with water. Avoid using any chemicals or soaps when rinsing fresh produce. A nifty tip from FoodSafety.gov is to rinse fruits and vegetables before peeling, removing the skin, cutting away or pruning.
- Ensure that all utensils are washed after every use. Use hot soapy water to wash cutting boards, utensils, and all other kitchen and food preparation tools.
- Cross-contamination is the result of bacteria and other microorganisms being transferred from one item to another. As a range of different forms of produce is used when cooking, such as poultry and other meats and eggs, along with fresh produce, different utensils must be used for poultry and meat items versus fresh produce.
- Raw meat, seafood and eggs must be separated from other food items.
- Raw and cooked food items must be stored in separate containers.
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3. Cook thoroughly
- According to the World Health Organization, properly cooking food at the correct temperature can ensure that “almost all” germs are killed. It is therefore advisable to ensure food is cooked at 70°C to ensure that it is safe for consumption. While lower temperatures can be used to cook food items, they must be cooked for a longer period.
- Food items such as poultry, raw meats, eggs and seafood must be cooked thoroughly. To ensure that meat has been thoroughly cooked, the juices must be clear and not pink.
- Soups and stews must be cooked at 70°C and this can be checked using a thermometer.
4. Safe storage
- The World Health Organization’s Food Safety Guide dictates that cooked food must not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. This is because microorganisms in food can reproduce at a rapid rate when left at room temperature for extended periods and create pathogenic bacteria.
- Avoid storing food for too long in the refrigerator.
- Avoid thawing frozen food at room temperature on the counter. The safest way to thaw meat, poultry and seafood is in the refrigerator.
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