FOOD SAFETY: TEST YOUR FOOD SAFETY PRACTICES

Rachel C. Swicker
Registered Dietitian; District Specialist, Communities, Families and Youth
Cooperative Extension
University of Massachusetts

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By following good food preparation procedures, you can prevent food poisoning. Check your food safety practices by answering the following questions. Choose "yes" or "no" for each question.

Do You:

• go straight home after food shopping, unpack, and put perishables quickly away into the refrigerator or freezer?
  
• keep foods at temperatures at which bacteria cannot grow - hot foods above 140 degrees Fahrenheit and cold foods below 40 degrees Fahrenheit?
  
• make sure that low-acid, high-protein foods like egg and milk products, meat, fish, and poultry are not left out of the refrigerator for long? (Bacteria prefer to live and grow in these foods.)
  
• cool cooked foods in the refrigerator so they can cool down quickly? Do you divide large batches into smaller flat containers to speed cooling?
  
• thaw frozen foods, especially meat, poultry, and fish, in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature?
  
• use one cutting board for meat, fish, and chicken and a separate one for fruits and vegetables? Do you wash the boards with soap and hot water after every use?
  
• remember to use different spoons each time you taste food while cooking and serving?
  
• always wash the children's hands with soap and hot water before eating?
  
• wash your own hands before you work with food?
  
• remember to wash after every visit to the bathroom, after helping a child in the bathroom, and after changing diapers?
  
• change children's diapers in a separate area away from food and the kitchen?
  
• make sure that people with infected cuts or sores and colds don't prepare or serve food?