{"id":1746,"date":"2017-09-28T11:04:16","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T17:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/?p=1746"},"modified":"2024-01-30T15:58:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T22:58:13","slug":"the-core-four-practices-of-food-safety","status":"publish","type":"newsletters","link":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/newsletters\/the-core-four-practices-of-food-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"The Core Four Practices Of Food Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>While the American food supply is among the safest in the world, the Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually\u2014the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year! In addition, each year these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Threats<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Symptoms ranging from relatively mild discomfort to very serious, life-threatening illness. While the very young, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems are at greatest risk of serious consequences from most foodborne illnesses, some of the organisms pose grave threats to all persons.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In every step of food preparation, follow the core four practices to keep food safe:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Clean<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after\u00a0handling food, after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and handling pets.<\/li>\r\n<li>Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water\u00a0after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.<\/li>\r\n<li>Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels\u00a0wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins\u00a0and rinds that are not eaten. Rub firm-skin fruits and vegetables under running tap\u00a0water or scrub with a clean vegetable brush while rinsing with running tap water.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Seperate<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Cross-contamination is how bacteria can be spread. When handling raw meat,\u00a0poultry, seafood and eggs, keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat\u00a0foods. Always start with a clean scene \u2014 wash hands with warm water and soap.\u00a0Wash cutting boards, dishes, counter-tops and utensils with hot soapy water.<\/li>\r\n<li>Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in your shopping\u00a0cart, grocery bags, and in your refrigerator. In your refrigerator these items\u00a0should\u00a0not\u00a0 be stored above ready to eat food. They should be placed in separate\u00a0containers\u00a0to avoid their juices from dripping onto other food.<\/li>\r\n<li>Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat,\u00a0poultry,\u00a0and seafood.<\/li>\r\n<li>Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood,\u00a0or eggs.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Cook<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Food is safely cooked when it reaches a high enough internal temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause food borne illness.<\/li>\r\n<li>Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of cooked foods. Relying on color to cook meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs is an extremely ineffective food safety practice. Use the chart below:<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"340\" class=\"wp-image-1749\" src=\"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Is-It-Done-Yet.png\" alt=\"Is it done yet?\" \/><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Make sure there are no cold spots in food (where bacteria can survive) when cooking in a microwave oven. For best results, cover food, stir, and rotate for even cooking. If there is no turntable, rotate the dish by hand once or twice during cooking.<\/li>\r\n<li>Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating. Heat other leftovers thoroughly to 165 \u00b0F.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Chill<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Do you know that pathogens multiply quickest in the \u201cdanger zone\u201d between 41\u00b0F\u00a0and 135\u00b0F? Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures slow the growth of\u00a0harmful bacteria. Keeping a constant refrigerator temperature of 40\u00b0F or below is\u00a0one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Use an\u00a0appliance thermometer to be sure the temperature is consistently 40\u00b0F or below.\u00a0The freezer temperature should be 0\u00b0F or below.<\/li>\r\n<li>Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, and other perishables as soon as you get\u00a0them home from the store.<\/li>\r\n<li>Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food, or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at\u00a0room temperature more than two hours before putting them in the refrigerator or\u00a0freezer (one hour when the temperature is above 90 \u00b0F).<\/li>\r\n<li>Never defrost food at room temperature! There are three safe ways to defrost food:\u00a0in\u00a0 the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water\u00a0or\u00a0 in the microwave should be cooked immediately.<\/li>\r\n<li>Always marinate food in the refrigerator.<\/li>\r\n<li>Divide large amounts of leftovers into shallow containers for quicker cooling in the\u00a0refrigerator.<\/li>\r\n<li>Use or discard refrigerated food on a regular basis.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>An important part of healthy eating is keeping foods safe. These core four practices of food safety principles work together to reduce the risk of foodborne illness\u2014Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator<\/p>\r\n<p>Sources:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatright.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eatright.org<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>Fight BAC!\u00ae, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fightbac.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fightbac.org<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>Is It Done Yet?, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsis.usda.gov\/wps\/portal\/fsis\/topics\/food-safety-education\/teach-others\/fsis-educational-campaigns\/is-it-done-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fsis.usda.gov<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>U.S. Department of Health &amp; Human Services, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hhs.gov<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>U.S. Food and Drug Administration, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fda.gov\/home<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the American food supply is among the safest in the world, the Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4792,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[783,957],"tags":[592,262,591,113,590],"class_list":["post-1746","newsletters","type-newsletters","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-safety-3","category-newsletter","tag-chill","tag-clean","tag-cook","tag-food-safety-2","tag-separate"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletters"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16934,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1746\/revisions\/16934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}