Food safety that is...
the four basic rules are clean, separate, cook and chill.
Clean hands, food contact surfaces, and fruits and vegetables. Do not wash or rinse meats and poultry. (Washing raw meat and poultry can spread bacteria.)
Click here for further directions
on washing or cleaning fruits and vegetables www.fightbac.org.
Separate raw, cooked and ready to eat foods while shopping, preparing or storing foods. This prevents cross contamination from one food to another.
Cook foods to a safe temperature to kill microorganisms. Use a food thermometer or an instant read thermometer to be sure.
Chill, that means refrigerate perishable foods promptly and thaw foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Your refrigerator should hold 40 degrees F and your freezer 0 degrees F. Use refrigerator and freezer thermometers to be sure.
A healthier lifestyle is easier than you might think. This is one in a series of monthly webpage features to show you how to take advantage of the great information put together by your USDA colleagues.
