Food Poisoning

To prevent food poisoning, you need only remember three simple rules: keep food hot; keep food cold; keep food clean.

Most germs that cause food poisoning are killed when you cook foods. However, when food stays warm for two hours or longer, some germs produce poisons that are not destroyed by heating. Once food is cooked, therefore, keep it hot until served and refrigerate leftovers at once.

Germs can’t multiply very fast if the storage temperature is 40° F. or below. So, store meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and cheese in the refrigerator. At the supermarket, pick up meat, poultry, and dairy products last and get them home and into the refrigerator or freezer immediately.

Thaw meat and poultry in the refrigerator. However, if you must thaw them outside the refrigerator, put them in a sealed plastic bag under cold running water, or put them in a closed double paper bag without use of water. The trick is to allow the food to get just warm enough to thaw and still cool enough to slow down germ growth.

If you keep germs off meat, poultry, and dairy products, you avoid problems. Keep utensils, platters, hands, countertops, and food preparation surfaces soap-and-hot-water clean. Don’t handle food if you have infected cuts and sores. Keep pets out of the kitchen, and teach children to wash their hands after playing with pets.

Be careful not to spread germs from raw meat to cooked meat. If you carry raw hamburgers to the grill on a platter, serve the cooked hamburgers on a different platter.—Jane A. Hoffman, Consumer Information Specialist, Utah State University Extension Service