How to avoid food poisoning: Few Tips to Follow

Wondering How to avoid food poisoning? The food that you consume can become toxic sometimes and can damage your health. But there are various measures to prevent that from happening. Some age old tricks and practice can prevent it from happening and eventually not take place at all.

Washing hands and utensils often

Lather your hands with warm soapy liquid and wash it until all the dirt and grime washes away before and after having food and also while you are preparing it. Use hot soapy water to clean the kitchen surfaces and boards where the wheat dough is made, or the vegetables are cut.

Separating raw and ready made food

When preparing and storing food, it is advisable to keep raw meat, fish, poultry and vegetables in different racks which in turn prevents cross-contamination. Cross contamination is the most common site when raw and ready made foods are not separated.

Cooking foods to a safe temperature

You can kill harmful germs in most foods by cooking them to the right temperature and the best way to do it is by using a food thermometer. For example cooking steaks, roast chops, such as lamb, veal, pork to at least 145F (62.8 degrees C) and similarly ground beef to 170F (71.1 degrees C).

Refrigerate perishable foods and defrost

If the room temperature is above 90F (32.2 degrees C) then refrigerate immediately within two hours of purchasing and preparing the food. Also, do not thaw food in the fridge rather defrost it in the refrigerator itself. If you are microwaving the frozen food then do it by pressing the “defrost” option or 50% power setting and be quick to cook it immediately.

When doubtful do the needful

If you are uncertain whether the food has been served, prepared and stored safely you should immediately discard the particular item. As food left at room temperature for too long may contain toxins and bacteria that cannot be demolished even by cooking. If you are unsure about the quality of the food, it should be thrown out no matter how appealing and fine it looks.

Keeping the demon at bay

Food poisoning is potentially severe and life-threatening for infants, young children, and pregnant women, older adults. People with weakened immune systems should be extra cautious regarding consumption of raw meat, eggs, fish, unpasteurized milk, juices, raw sprouts, etc. Following these methods will keep the demon of food poisoning at bay.