Food safety.
Let us talk about food safety shall we. As you may have noticed in all of my recipes, I give you the suggestion to take the temperature of your food. Taking the temp of food during cooking makes your dishes safer to eat, just goes without saying really.
I work in a food service as a cook, we use what is called “H.A.C.C.P” or Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Point; that is to say, in every aspect of cooking, there is controls we use to assure the food is safe for the costumers.
We make sure first, all food surfaces are clean and sanitized. Hot water and soap, followed by a sanitizer with an Iodine base. All utensils, knifes, pots and pans are also sanitized by both hot water and a chemical sanitizer, in the rinse.
One of the important aspects also in our prep is to use the right tools for the job.
1. Colored cutting boards for different food tasks.
White for ready to eat foods (precooked.)
Green for vegetables (raw)
Red for meats (raw)
2. Colanders for washing off fruits and vegetables.
3. Cutting gloves. These are either gray or white gloves which is worn on the hand holding the food your cutting. (not the knife.)
4.Latex Gloves.
Of course, as the home cook, possibly you are not concerned about using different colored boards. However, you may want to know an interesting fact about a scary thing called “Cross contamination.”
On a cutting board, as your knife slices across its surface, it makes a small cut into that board. If you are cutting meats on that board, then move onto the vegetables, the blood from that meat will go into your vegetables.
You might be saying, “But I wipe the board between the meat and the vegetables.”
This will not clean your board. Microbial pathogens can hid inside these small cracks and grooves, just waiting for a chance to jump onto another food or even your skin. These pathogens are nasty little blighters, their main function is to get into your blood stream, and to break down your immune system. Here is a general list of those bad little monkeys.
Salmonella
E-Coli
Streptococcus
And others too numerous to list…
For a full list please visit http://ww w.righthealth.com/Health/Foodborne__illness-Bacteria-Salmonella_Enteritidis/-od- definition_wiki_Foodborne__illness-s#Pathogenic_agents
What am I on about all of this for? Because it is so very important that you know about these vicious killers, so you can protect your family.
Now lets talk about food preparation.
Before you even think about getting into cutting into a piece of meat, lets think this over a bit shall we. How clean is your knife?
If you have a dirty knife, those pathogens are sitting on the blade and when you cut into the meat, those little microbes are screaming, “PARTY!” and they are jumping into your meat. So first before you go and start cutting. Take that knife, and run it under HOT water, and soap. Yes wash your knife before using it. It may sound like a crazy thing to do even though you may have cleaned it. If you have others living in your home, there are times when you may have cleaned something, and never know that your son used a knife to cut open a video game case. God knows what hands have touched before touching the case. So he takes your paring knife and opens that box, then puts the knife back into the holder. (We can get into the knife holder in a moment.) On that knife is who knows what, from god knows who’s what they touched thank you very much.
Again, what about the cutting board? Do you have just one board? Then do a trick I use at home. One side mark the board in a small corner of the board, a M, this will mean Raw Meat. On the other side, put another letter you V/R for Vegetable, or Ready to eat. Make sure you have a solution of `1Tbsp Bleach, to 1 gal water. And fill a spray bottle with this solution. This makes a great sanitizer for all Food Contact surfaces. Just spray on, let dry.
THE KNIFE HOLDER… This has got to be the worse place for knives because it can be the cradle of a lot of Food-borne pathogens. Simply get a small pipe cleaner, and use your bleach and water solution, spray directly into the holes, and scrub with the pipe cleaner.
Cook or be cooked…
The other way of safeguarding yourself and your family against the dangers of the kitchen, it to learn about safe food cooking Temperature.
Products Temperature
Fish 155 F to 165 F
Red meat 155 to 165 F
Chicken and Poultry 165 F and higher if desired. NEVER LOWER!
This is just a small guide to safety in the kitchen, and I hope you will find it useful.
Let us talk about food safety shall we. As you may have noticed in all of my recipes, I give you the suggestion to take the temperature of your food. Taking the temp of food during cooking makes your dishes safer to eat, just goes without saying really.
I work in a food service as a cook, we use what is called “H.A.C.C.P” or Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Point; that is to say, in every aspect of cooking, there is controls we use to assure the food is safe for the costumers.
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We make sure first, all food surfaces are clean and sanitized. Hot water and soap, followed by a sanitizer with an Iodine base. All utensils, knifes, pots and pans are also sanitized by both hot water and a chemical sanitizer, in the rinse.
One of the important aspects also in our prep is to use the right tools for the job.
1. Colored cutting boards for different food tasks.
White for ready to eat foods (precooked.)
Green for vegetables (raw)
Red for meats (raw)
2. Colanders for washing off fruits and vegetables.
3. Cutting gloves. These are either gray or white gloves which is worn on the hand holding the food your cutting. (not the knife.)
4.Latex Gloves.
Of course, as the home cook, possibly you are not concerned about using different colored boards. However, you may want to know an interesting fact about a scary thing called “Cross contamination.”
On a cutting board, as your knife slices across its surface, it makes a small cut into that board. If you are cutting meats on that board, then move onto the vegetables, the blood from that meat will go into your vegetables.
You might be saying, “But I wipe the board between the meat and the vegetables.”
This will not clean your board. Microbial pathogens can hid inside these small cracks and grooves, just waiting for a chance to jump onto another food or even your skin. These pathogens are nasty little blighters, their main function is to get into your blood stream, and to break down your immune system. Here is a general list of those bad little monkeys.
Salmonella
E-Coli
Streptococcus
And others too numerous to list…
For a full list please visit http://ww w.righthealth.com/Health/Foodborne__illness-Bacteria-Salmonella_Enteritidis/-od- definition_wiki_Foodborne__illness-s#Pathogenic_agents
What am I on about all of this for? Because it is so very important that you know about these vicious killers, so you can protect your family.
Now lets talk about food preparation.
Before you even think about getting into cutting into a piece of meat, lets think this over a bit shall we. How clean is your knife?
If you have a dirty knife, those pathogens are sitting on the blade and when you cut into the meat, those little microbes are screaming, “PARTY!” and they are jumping into your meat. So first before you go and start cutting. Take that knife, and run it under HOT water, and soap. Yes wash your knife before using it. It may sound like a crazy thing to do even though you may have cleaned it. If you have others living in your home, there are times when you may have cleaned something, and never know that your son used a knife to cut open a video game case. God knows what hands have touched before touching the case. So he takes your paring knife and opens that box, then puts the knife back into the holder. (We can get into the knife holder in a moment.) On that knife is who knows what, from god knows who’s what they touched thank you very much.
Again, what about the cutting board? Do you have just one board? Then do a trick I use at home. One side mark the board in a small corner of the board, a M, this will mean Raw Meat. On the other side, put another letter you V/R for Vegetable, or Ready to eat. Make sure you have a solution of `1Tbsp Bleach, to 1 gal water. And fill a spray bottle with this solution. This makes a great sanitizer for all Food Contact surfaces. Just spray on, let dry.
THE KNIFE HOLDER… This has got to be the worse place for knives because it can be the cradle of a lot of Food-borne pathogens. Simply get a small pipe cleaner, and use your bleach and water solution, spray directly into the holes, and scrub with the pipe cleaner.
Cook or be cooked…
The other way of safeguarding yourself and your family against the dangers of the kitchen, it to learn about safe food cooking Temperature.
Products Temperature
Fish 155 F to 165 F
Red meat 155 to 165 F
Chicken and Poultry 165 F and higher if desired. NEVER LOWER!
This is just a small guide to safety in the kitchen, and I hope you will find it useful.