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How to cook so that no one gets poisoned

'18.11.2018'

Source: Vice

Most likely, everything will be all right, but let's just go over the main one just in case.

Фото: Depositphotos

According to the US Food and Drug Administration, every year more than 48 millions of people get food poisoning. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has found that more than a third of these cases are due to homemade, not restaurant food, writes Vice. Do not fall, and you in these statistics!

If you are one of those who are frivolous about the cleanliness of your apartment (hello friends, we don’t wash your bedding for two months, we are talking about you) or if you are new to the world of home cooking, then read the most basic provisions of homemade safety. From not infecting your fresh vegetables with E. coli from raw meat, to understanding when it really is time to throw away this tray of eggs, here are some universal rules on how to save your food and save money. (After all, the more you throw away, the more cash you let into the wind).

Safe preparation for cooking

  • Use a separate kitchen board for raw meat and fish. and wash it thoroughly when you finish the cooking process. An infection from raw meat can easily end in an unexpected case of food poisoning, so for the sake of safety, fork out for extra kitchen utensils.
  • My own damn hands, you goblin. And it is worth doing more often than you think. Shred vegetables and rubbed your sweaty face? Perhaps it would be better to wash your hands. Touched raw meat? Definitely wash your hands before touching any kitchen utensils again. This is not nuclear physics, for some reason you have been told about it since you were small children.
  • Do not wash raw meat under the tap. This will only increase the possibility of contamination of the entire sink, which you will most likely forget to wash when finished cooking. If your recipe requires it, dry the source of protein with paper towels and discard them.
Фото: Depositphotos

Check the temperature

  • It is advisable that the refrigerators keep the temperature stable at 4,44 ° С or lower, and the freezers - minus 18 ° С. If you are worried about the temperature in your fridge, take a thermometer at the household goods store and let it hang there for a day, check it every few hours to see if the temperature fluctuates strongly or is steadily below a safe level.
  • If you put something still hot in the fridge, distribute it evenly over the tray so that everything quickly cools to a safe temperature. The longer the food in the fridge cools, the greater the chance of bacteria spreading.. (The “danger zone” in which bacteria spread is the temperature between 4,44 ° C and 60 ° C, so the sooner you cool your products from 60 ° C to 4,44 ° C, the better.) For example, if you refrigerate hot soup, pour it into a wide shallow pan or tray, so due to the larger surface area it cools faster and then, if necessary, transfer it to a smaller storage container. In general, the temperature of your food should fall from 60 ° C to 21 ° C in two hours, and then to 5 ° C in another four hours. It may not be enough proto leave something to cool on the kitchen table. Invest in a thermometer!
  • Store dairy products in the back of the refrigerator where the cold is more stable. It may be easier to get to the milk pack if you store it in the refrigerator door, but this is usually the warmest part, because you open and close it, causing temperature fluctuations.
  • A cut chicken (thigh and breast separately) should be cooked at the internal temperature (until the internal temperature is reached) at 74 ° C. If you bake a whole chicken, or, say, a turkey for the holiday, the whole bird should warm up to 82 ° C, which can be checked by inserting a thermometer into the thigh as close as possible to the bone. (These figures are indicated by the USDA. Most chefs will tell you to bring bacon to 65,5 ° and your hips / whole chicken to 74 °).
  • Beef should be cooked at least to 63 ° C - this is the average roasting. That is why “raw or undercooked” beef can cause foodborne illness. (52 ° С - with blood, and 57 ° С - weak roasting, but we did not tell you that).
  • Pork must be cooked to 71 ° C. (Although trichinosis dies at 63 ° C).
Photo: depositphotos

Is it spoiled?

(According to the USDA and Food and Drug Administration)

  • Eggs - in the refrigerator at a constant temperature, they can last up to five weeks, counting from the date of purchase. The expiration date on the package will probably expire before the five-week period, so check the box with a marker if you think you can forget. If you broke an egg and only used either the yolk or the white and saved the unused portion, do not keep it for more than two or three days in an airtight container. Although you can freeze them! (This was news to me too.)
  • Fish - the fish should not have too strong a fishy smell from a raw cut. The main rule of fish traders, confirmed by experience, is this: if the fish still smells of the ocean, it is fresh. In any case, lean or fatty fish is really safe for up to two days.
  • Canned food - Before leaving the store, check canned food that you buy for the presence of dents (scratches, damage), which are an indication that the tin lid could be damaged, and the risk of bacteria multiplication and the formation of botulism increased. If a can standing on your shelf shows signs of bloating, it's time to throw it away, since this is another indicator of botulism.
  • Dry foods - if you store flour and grain in hermetic containers, their shelf life is up to one year. If you use freshly ground flour interspersed with wheat grains, you will have to keep it in the refrigerator or freezer, and it will lie for only a few months. (Although if you are one of those who buy and use raw flour when baking, you already know about it.) The most characteristic sign that flour has deteriorated is the presence of cereal parasites that look like tiny brown bugs. If the product smells rancid, indicating that too much moisture has gotten into your storage container, it’s time to throw it away. If you are using whole grain flour, just know that its shelf life is significantly shorter than that of white flour, so check it more often.
  • Chopped meat - as soon as raw beef or pork or any other source of protein passes through the meat grinder, an infinite number of secluded corners, crevices and shells appear, in which bacteria can settle and start causing serious damage. Keep the minced meat in the refrigerator only one or two days and, if you are not going to cook it immediately, freeze. Grazing ground beef does not necessarily mean that it is spoiled, but if it is gray and smells extravagant, it has survived. A whole piece of raw meat can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days, but a raw bird can only stay fresh for two days. Cooked meat and poultry, if cooked and packaged properly, will be stored for up to four days.
Фото: Depositphotos

In a healthy body healthy mind

  • Wash and change kitchen towels regularly. and make sure they have the normal ability to dry between uses. (Do not leave them crumpled on the work surface - lay them flat or hang them where air can flow freely).
  • Change the sponge at least once a month, if not more. You can warm up a well-rinsed sponge in the microwave, or run into a dishwasher in a hot dry mode to kill germs if you are really worried about the daily accumulation of germs and prefer to extend the life of what is essentially a disposable piece of plastic.
  • Wash your kitchen table regularly and make sure you cover the entire surface, not just the one you think you are working on. There is every chance that everything was spilling and splashing around your kitchen board, and you did not pay attention. Over time, corners and tiled grouting can also collect dirt.
  • Store raw meat and fish on the bottom shelf of the refrigeratorcarefully packed. If suddenly some kind of liquid leaks out of the styrofoam container, it will not flow and will not come into contact with other raw foods or containers.

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