Eating foods that have been contaminated with harmful microbes or their toxins can lead to food poisoning, or foodborne illness. Microbes and toxins are tasteless and flavorless and thus, you cannot detect their presence in your food. The only way to avoid food contamination is to use good hand hygiene and proper food handling, preparing and storing techniques.
Handling
Unhygienic food handling promotes contamination and spread of food borne illnesses. Unwashed hands can transfer harmful microbes to your food. Wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling food. Raw meats such as poultry, seafood and meat, contain microbes that can spread to your cooking surfaces and other ingredients if you do not handle them properly. Prevent contact with raw meat and fresh food and secure raw juices from leaking and contaminating other ingredients by using plastic containers. Wash your hands, cutting boards, utensils and and kitchen surfaces immediately after you handle raw meat. In addition, always use a separate cutting boards for raw meats and fresh foods, such as vegetables.
Fresh Foods
Although it may not seem so, but fresh vegetables and fruits can also contain microbes and washing your fresh foods before eating or using them in salads helps prevent contamination. The surfaces of these foods can contain microbes acquired from a variety of sources during harvest, storage and transport. Use warm water to rinse all clean vegetables and fruits, and use a brush for foods that contain dirt, such as potatoes, carrots and mushrooms.
Cooked Foods
Uncooked and improperly prepared food is another factor that contributes to food contamination. Leaving your food in the room temperature promotes bacterial growth; always bring food to room temperature just before cooking and place unused perishable ingredients, such as dairy and raw meat, immediately back to the refrigerator. All fish, poultry and meat should be cooked in temperatures high enough to thoroughly destroy parasites, viruses and bacteria that may have contaminated them. Always fully cook all meats and check the internal temperature with a thermometer. The safe internal temperature for fowl, poultry, ground veal, beef, lamb, venison or pork is 165 F. For fresh cuts of venison, beef, pork, veal, lamb and fish, the temperature should be 145 F. Cook eggs until the yolks and whites are firm. Temperature for dishes with eggs should be 160 F.
Storage
Proper storage of food can help reduce and prevent food contamination. After grocery shopping, store perishable foods in the refrigerator or freezer right away. The refrigerator should be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Some bacteria, such as listeria, can survive and grow even at low temperatures. Thus, even foods stored in the refrigerator won't last forever. Throw away all foods that have passed their expiration date or have been opened for longer than recommended.
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