Are you tired of reading and hearing about COVID-19 yet? Are you totally confined to your home, or are you an essential service worker? How have things changed for you?
My on-line news service provides the ten top items each day as links. For the last two weeks, nine out of the ten have been about COVID-19 and mostly they provide depressing reading. I'm not going to rehash all that.
New Zealand, where I live, has closed its borders.
The majority of shops are closed, so our food shopping is mostly confined to visits to the supermarket, which may involve long queues and limited numbers of people in the building at any time, so the on-line ordering and collection option is popular. The 2-metre separation rule is now being followed by most people.
How does this affect our eating habits? Well, restaurants and fast food joints are closed, so we are all preparing many more meals at home from what we have on hand. This may involve substitution of ingredients, or complete change of menu at short notice. Not everyone is used to cooking meals at home and there may be a few disasters!
Do we need to worry about contracting the virus from our food? The best information I have is that this is a respiratory infection and you can't pick it up from food. Since it is a virus, it can't replicate in stored food, so the only concern is with contamination of the packaging. Survival time on surfaces seems to vary, but studies by CDC, researchers at various universities and FDA indicate that the survival time varies from a few hours to about three days, but it is important to remember that the AMOUNT of virus remaining may be as low as 0.01% of the original contamination. It is unlikely that you can contract the virus from food packaging, but it's a good idea to wipe the packaging down with a 1:48 dilution of household 6% bleach, (5mL 6% bleach into 240mL water) or just leave the packages unopened for a few days.
So, do we need to change our cooking and eating habits? Essentially, I think the answer is "No" but we do need to be very careful. Nobody wants to waste food, so it's likely that leftovers will be stored for future use. We don't want to burden our hospitals with food poisoning cases. Here are a few tips:
Keep leftovers refrigerated and reheat to at least 75C - use a thermometer
Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently
Don't touch your face
Ensure that food is cooked properly (as you would normally)
Be very wary of cross contamination of raw and cooked food
Stay home; don't pop down to the corner store just to pick up a bottle of milk - plan your shopping.
Just a couple of final points:
The experts now think that the wearing of masks available to the general public is not going to protect you from infection. Don't forget that the virus is tiny and if you get it in your eyes, it will run down your tear ducts into your nasal passages and can initiate an infection
I am now washing my hands more thoroughly and frequently than when I was working with green lipped mussels deliberately infected with high levels of Salmonella!
Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Sunday, December 18, 2016
It's that time of year again!
Many readers will have noticed that my posts are less frequent than before I retired. Nevertheless, I do keep an eye on food safety matters in the news media, and the number of page views each day is relatively stable, with total of around 278k over the years. This suggests to me that the blog is still fullfilling its original purpose and that the interest in safety of food is undiminished.
The Christmas holiday is fast approaching and, in New Zealand, this is the time for parties and barbecues. Food is often prepared in advance and may be displayed for some hours outside. The potential for contamination and temperature abuse is probably higher than at any other time of year.
If you are serving sliced ham or other meats, please remember the safety message: Clean, Cook, Cover, Chill. Minimise hand contact with cooked food and be careful not to handle raw meats in a way that can allow cross contamination of cooked foods.
If you are cooking on a BBQ, make sure that the meats are cooked through. I wrote a similar message in 2014. I use a meat thermometer to check internal temperatures, as you can't determine if meat is properly cooked by its appearance. "When the juice runs clear" is not a reliable way of ensuring that chicken is properly cooked. If you have any doubts, please read the earlier post.
There is nothing wrong with leftovers, provided that the food is refrigerated and eaten within 24 hours. But please remember that leftovers from a party are more likely to have been temperature abused and may have been picked over by your guests, including children. Are you totally confident of their hand hygiene? If you are reheating leftovers, ensure that the temperature rises to at least
75 C.
Thank you all for your continued interest in Safe Food. I wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas holiday.
The Christmas holiday is fast approaching and, in New Zealand, this is the time for parties and barbecues. Food is often prepared in advance and may be displayed for some hours outside. The potential for contamination and temperature abuse is probably higher than at any other time of year.
If you are serving sliced ham or other meats, please remember the safety message: Clean, Cook, Cover, Chill. Minimise hand contact with cooked food and be careful not to handle raw meats in a way that can allow cross contamination of cooked foods.
If you are cooking on a BBQ, make sure that the meats are cooked through. I wrote a similar message in 2014. I use a meat thermometer to check internal temperatures, as you can't determine if meat is properly cooked by its appearance. "When the juice runs clear" is not a reliable way of ensuring that chicken is properly cooked. If you have any doubts, please read the earlier post.
There is nothing wrong with leftovers, provided that the food is refrigerated and eaten within 24 hours. But please remember that leftovers from a party are more likely to have been temperature abused and may have been picked over by your guests, including children. Are you totally confident of their hand hygiene? If you are reheating leftovers, ensure that the temperature rises to at least
75 C.
Thank you all for your continued interest in Safe Food. I wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas holiday.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Happy and safe Christmas to you all
For us in New Zealand, Christmas Day is only 12 hours away. It is summer and we will be having BBQs and parties outside.
Don't forget - if you are cooking outside on a fire or a BBQ, steak requires only to be cooked on the outside, as the inside of meat from a healthy animal is essentially sterile. If the steaks are thick, make sure that the edges are also cooked. However, meat patties have been made by blending together minced meat and possibly egg as a binder. The inside of the patty is not sterile and so the patties must be cooked through properly. Use a meat thermometer to be sure that the inside has reached at least 75C. You can't judge whether the meat is cooked just by its colour.
I prefer not to cook chicken on the BBQ because it is difficult to ensure even heating. However, if the BBQ has a hood, it is essentially the same as an indoor oven. Ensure that the chook is cooked properly, again using a meat thermometer. I also prefer not to put stuffing into the body cavity - it slows down the cooking process and it's difficult to determine when it's done. Cook the seasoning separately.
Round our place, there are very rarely any leftovers. However, make sure that food doesn't stay in the sun any longer than necessary. Ham that has been handled may well be contaminated with Staphylococcus. If eaten straight away, this is no problem, but if left at room temperature, the bacteria may grow, since all their competitors have been killed in the preparation process, leaving them free to grow in the salty favourable conditions.
Remember that several food borne pathogens can grow, albeit slowly, in the refrigerator, so use leftovers within a day or so.
Recent changes in legislation in New Zealand mean that driving after more than one alcoholic drink risks being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Better to have a designated driver, or stay off the turps!
To all my readers, I wish a happy Christmas and an enjoyable New Year.
Don't forget - if you are cooking outside on a fire or a BBQ, steak requires only to be cooked on the outside, as the inside of meat from a healthy animal is essentially sterile. If the steaks are thick, make sure that the edges are also cooked. However, meat patties have been made by blending together minced meat and possibly egg as a binder. The inside of the patty is not sterile and so the patties must be cooked through properly. Use a meat thermometer to be sure that the inside has reached at least 75C. You can't judge whether the meat is cooked just by its colour.
I prefer not to cook chicken on the BBQ because it is difficult to ensure even heating. However, if the BBQ has a hood, it is essentially the same as an indoor oven. Ensure that the chook is cooked properly, again using a meat thermometer. I also prefer not to put stuffing into the body cavity - it slows down the cooking process and it's difficult to determine when it's done. Cook the seasoning separately.
Round our place, there are very rarely any leftovers. However, make sure that food doesn't stay in the sun any longer than necessary. Ham that has been handled may well be contaminated with Staphylococcus. If eaten straight away, this is no problem, but if left at room temperature, the bacteria may grow, since all their competitors have been killed in the preparation process, leaving them free to grow in the salty favourable conditions.
Remember that several food borne pathogens can grow, albeit slowly, in the refrigerator, so use leftovers within a day or so.
Recent changes in legislation in New Zealand mean that driving after more than one alcoholic drink risks being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Better to have a designated driver, or stay off the turps!
To all my readers, I wish a happy Christmas and an enjoyable New Year.
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