September is Food Safety Education Month
Are you making one of these common food safety mistakes?
Foodborne illness isn't just an awful way to spend a weekend or the reason you quit visiting your (former) favorite pizza place. It also leads to missed days of work or school, lost wages, and can rack up hefty medical bills. It all adds up fast, and according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, incurs an economic burden of about $15 billion each year.
You can reduce your risk of contracting a foodborne illness (and protect your personal bottom line) with good food handling practices in your own kitchen. Here are some common mistakes to watch out for:
* Not washing your hands. Make sure to lather with soap and scrub thoroughly for at least 20 seconds before handling food, after using the restroom or touching pets, using your phone, or blowing your nose.
* Rinsing raw poultry. The bird isn't really any cleaner, but the running water may spread harmful pathogens to other surfaces in the sink, the counter, and nearby utensils or cookware.
* Cutting board carelessness. Never slice raw meat before chopping vegetables on the same cutting board. Ideally, you should use separate clean cutting boards for meat or fish and vegetables and clean both with hot, soapy water after each use.
* Incorrectly thawing frozen foods. Not all foods can be left on the counter for a few hours defrost — in fact, that might be a great way to create a bacteria colony that you'll live to regret. Visit the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Big Thaw resource page (https://tinyurl.com/4y8tvjwh) to learn how to safely defrost whatever you pull out of the freezer tonight.
* Not heating food to the correct temperature. You might not realize that your food is undercooked until you check the temperature — after all, it looked done to you, right? Get your hands on a decent food thermometer and check the USDA's Minimum Internal Temperature Chart (https://tinyurl.com/ycwpatak) to know for sure how hot your chicken should really be.
