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Script: Be Food Safe: Clean |
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Intro:
Welcome to USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service
Food Safety at home podcast series. These podcasts were
designed with you in mind - the consumer - who purchases and
prepares meat, poultry and processed meat, poultry and processed
egg products for your family and friends.
Each episode will bring you a different food safety topic ranging
from safe storage, handling, and preparation of meat, poultry and
processed egg products to the importance of keeping foods safe
during a power outage.
So sit back, turn up the volume and listen in.
Host:
Welcome to "Food Safety at Home." This is
Gertie Hurley with the Food Safety Education Staff of FSIS. I’m your host for this
week’s segment.
Today, we have with us Kathy Bernard from the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline. Kathy
will discuss some important food safety tips with us today.
Food that is mishandled can lead to foodborne illness. “Kathy, can you tell us a key
word to remember to keep our food safe?”
Guest:
Sure. I’d say it’s the word clean. Cleanliness is a
major factor in preventing foodborne illness.
Host:
As a consumer, what is my role in this?
Guest:
As a consumer, your role is to make sure that you handle food safely after you purchase it.
Everything that touches food should be clean.
Host:
What are some steps consumers can take to help prevent foodborne illness in the home?
Guest:
I’m glad you asked. It’s important to always wash your
hands with warm, soapy water
- Before and after handling food.
It’s also important to wash your hands after
- Using the bathroom; or
- Changing a diaper;
- Tending to a sick person;
- Blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; and
- Handling pets.
Remember to always use clean disposable gloves if you have a skin abrasion or
infection and wash your hands (gloved or not) with warm, soapy water.
Host:
Okay, I’m in the kitchen preparing the food, what do I need
to know now?
Guest:
When preparing raw meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, and before moving on to the next step, thoroughly wash all surfaces that
have come into contact with food with hot, soapy water.
Consider using paper towels to clean kitchen surfaces. And if you use dishcloths, wash
them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine. Faucets, counter tops, and
similar surfaces should also be cleaned by washing them with hot, soapy water.
Host:
That’s right ─ bacteria are everywhere, cleanliness is
very important in preventing foodborne illness.
Guest:
By keeping everything clean that comes into contact with food, you can be sure that
you’re reducing your risk of foodborne illness.
Host:
That's it for this week. We have been talking to Kathy Bernard of the Food Safety
Education Staff at FSIS. Thank you Kathy for those helpful tips. I’m Gertie Hurley and
I’d like to thank you for joining us for this episode of "Food Safety at Home" and
remember, “Be Food Safe.”
Outro:
Well, that’s all for this time. Thanks for joining us today
for another episode of food safety at home!
For answers to your food safety questions call USDA's toll-free
meat and poultry hotline at 1-888-mphotline. That’s
1-888-674-6854.
You can also get answers to food safety questions online from our
virtual representative "ask karen" at www.askkaren.gov.
Let us know what you think of this podcast by sending your
comments to podcast@fsis.usda.gov.
Thanks for tuning in.
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