Food Safety for Christmas

 “Food Safety for Christmas? Nah man, the food always good. I never got stomach problems; in fact I have an iron belly. Why waste  my time washing my hands when I could be eating? Who say we have to eat turkey  as soon as it cook and cut up the leftovers an put in the fridge to cool? That is just more work! And beside if you wait, the turkey will be gone by the time everybody goes home!” Those are the common perceptions that people have when the phrase Food Safety is stated in the same sentence with Christmas. This Christmas eat, drink and be merry with these simple home food safety tips from The Caribbean Food Safety Centre (CFSC).

The CFSC is located at the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) which is located at the UWI Campus, St Augustine knows that everyone is looking forward to scrumptious food such as ham and turkey and pastelles. CARIRI  knows that you want to have a great Christmas and we do too. But we know that there are risks of food poisoning and food-borne illnesses and those can ruin your Christmas celebrations. So take a little extra time and with a little‘know-how’ you can have the Christmas you want without the fear of food poisoning or food-borne illnesses striking you and your family.

 Buying Groceries

Frequently people make the mistake of buying groceries first on a shopping trip to the mall and then take three to four hours shopping for gifts. By the time they get home, all the meats and dairy products and other perishable items are warm and their food safety status is in doubt. The best time to buy your groceries is after you have finished your other shopping and just before you head home. T he reason for this is that you want to reduce the time that the perishable items stay out of the refrigerator, so that there is less chance of spoilage. If your drive home is going to be a long one, consider carrying a cooler filled with ice in the car trunk. When you buy your groceries, place the perishable items such as meats (including the turkey and the ham) fish and dairy products in the cooler where they will remain cold for a longer time. You can separate meat from non meat items using plastic bags or in separate coolers. 

After a day of shopping you may be tired and tempted to take a nap before putting the groceries away. Don’t! Resist the urge to leave the groceries on the kitchen counter. This habit can contribute to spoilage of foods. Put away groceries in their proper storage places. Remember to put meats in the freezer. If they are dripping blood, you may drain away that excess blood down your kitchen sink and put them in clean plastic bags. Wash all the fruits and vegetables before putting them in the refrigerator so that you don’t contaminate other foods in the refrigerator.

Good Personal Hygiene

The common mistake people make is forgetting to wash hands altogether or wash their hands infrequently or improperly. This mistake might occur more frequently because people may be in a rush to get back to the “lime”.

Passing your hands under the running water does not make them clean. Using soap and water and then wiping them in your jeans does not make them clean. Whether you are chief cook for the day, the helper or the server, the” lime” would quickly turn sour if you dirty hands make your friends ill.

The following tips will greatly reduce the chance that harmful bacteria  from you hands will contaminate food.

Proper Hand Washing

Hands should be washed with warm water and soap. If you do not have warm water you may use an antibacterial soap or simply lather and rinse thoroughly. Always wash your hands, front and back, up to your wrists, between fingers and under fingernails. Sing two choruses of happy birthday or jingle bells while you lather up – cleaning your hands for 20 seconds.  Dry with paper towels.
Wash hands before you:

• Handle or prepare food,
• Eat meals
• Feed children.

Wash hands after you Prepare food

Preparing food safely

Just imagine its Christmas morning and you are in the kitchen preparing Christmas lunch for you family and friends. You have just put the turkey in the oven, you are seasoning the pork, the pastelles are about ready to come out of the pot, you have to cut up vegetables for the salad, the telephone is ringing off the hook because someone else is trying to send Christmas greetings and little Johnny is running in and out of the kitchen behind his very loud fire truck he got for Christmas. This is the wonderful chaos that is Christmas, but it can also be a recipe for disaster. Don’t worry, with some advance planning and the right information, a food safety crisis can be avoided.

The Meats
Thaw all meats at least from the morning before (turkey, ham and large cuts of meat may need longer) in the refrigerator. Season them the night before (Christmas eve night) and put back into the refrigerator. Be sure to place all raw meats beneath all other foods to avoid contamination of other foods in case of dripping.
The ham can be cooked on Christmas eve night.

Vegetables and others
Also wash and cut up all vegetables the night before and place them in sealed plastic bags or containers and place them in the refrigerator. Potatoes can be washed and peeled and placed in a covered container of water and placed in the refrigerator. Boil rice and pasta on Christmas eve, cool under running water, drain and chill.
Make pastelles in advance and freeze immediately. When making pastelles keep the meat filling cold in the refrigerator and remove small batches at a time to fill the pastelles. Do not allow a large pot of minced meat to sit at room temperature.
Peas can be partially cooked days in advance and frozen or the day before and chilled.
Never partially cook food and let it sit at room temperature.  This allows bacteria to grow and bacterial toxins to form. Some toxins are not destroyed by heat, so that reheating would not destroy them.

When preparing foods, there are many opportunities for cross-contamination. To prevent this

• Use only equipments, utensils, and surfaces that have been properly sanitized. Make a sanitizing solution by adding one tablespoon of unscented bleach to one gallon of warm (not hot) water.
• Use separate cutting boards and utensils to prepare raw meats and poultry. This decreases the chance of contaminating foods that are ready-to-eat, for example salad vegetables.

Cooking Food Safely

It’s now Christmas morning and we know that there are a lot of food items that must be done for Christmas lunch.

There is also that wonderful chaos we spoke about associated with cooking all that great foods before the family members and friends come over. However do not take any shortcuts in cooking the foods or there will be some undesired guests at your Christmas lunch… food poisoning. Here are some tips that will help to prevent the arrival of that unwelcome guest.

Remove the turkey from the refrigerator and place it straight away into the oven that has been pre-heated at 350°F.

Cook the turkey thoroughly to kill harmful bacteria. The only safe way to make sure meat or poultry is thoroughly cooked is to use a food thermometer:

• Turkey should be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 180°F

When the turkey is cooked the juices would run clear.

Cook the pork and ham to an internal temperature of 170°F.When it is cooked juices would also run clear.

• Ground meat should be cooked to at least 160°F
• Egg dished should be cooked to at least 155°F or until egg is firm.
• Beef roast should be cooked to at least 170°F
• Fish should be cooked to at least 145°F or until opaque.

When the meats are almost finished prepare other dishes so that they can be served hot, put salad together and refrigerate till ready to serve.

Serving Food Safely
Hot foods must be served hot and cold foods must be served cold. Bacteria grow the best in foods that are lukewarm, that is, between 40°F and 140°F. In other words, during serving, hot foods should be at least 140°F or hotter while cold foods should be at most 40°F or colder. The best way to maintain these temperatures is to use smaller serving dishes or trays and serve food in small batches and rotate them often from the oven, stove, or refrigerator. Use of hot plates and ice also is helpful. Never leave foods at room temperature for more than two hours. Any food remaining at room temperature for longer should be discarded.

Cleaning And Sanitizing
So lunch is over and everyone is satiated. There is now a mountain of dishes to be cleaned but no one is in the mood to clean up. Dirty dishes if left unattended encourage flies, they become harder to clean as food becomes more firmly adhered and this of course encourages the growth of microorganisms  which are the disease carriers. So roll up those sleeves, don your prettiest apron and start by scraping all debris away from the dishes. Soak dishes in hot soapy water, apply scrubbing action if necessary and rinse with warm water. Drain and put away as soon as possible. If you have to wipe dry use a paper towel.

Proper Garbage Removal
Collect all debris right away and secure in garbage bags. Ensure that all garbage bins are clean and properly covered to minimise the attraction of flies, roaches and other pests. Keep garbage bins away from food and food preparation areas.

Remember, food-borne illness is nearly 100 percent preventable – just handle food safely from the time it’s brought until it is served.