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Script: Be Food Safe: Separate |
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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 and Inspection Service. I’m your host for this
segment. With me today is Kathy Bernard from the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline.
Welcome to the show, Kathy..
Guest:
Thank you Gertie. I‘m happy to be here.
Host:
In our previous podcasts, we’ve discussed the four messages of Clean, Separate, Cook,
and Chill. Today, I would like to get your advice on the second message SEPARATE.
Preventing cross-contamination is an important factor in helping to eliminate
foodborne illness. Kathy, “What is cross-contamination?
Guest:
Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria to a food from other foods,
cut¬ting boards, utensils, surfaces, or hands.
Host:
How
can cross-contamination be prevented?
Guest:
Cross-contamination can be prevented by keeping food
separated and by keep¬ing hands, utensils, and counter tops clean.
Host:
What are some steps we can take to avoid cross contamination?
Guest:
That’s a good question, Gertie. Use one cutting board for raw meat and poultry, and
another clean board for salads and ready-to-eat food or food that has been cooked?
Keep raw meat and poultry and their juices apart from other food items in your grocery
cart. Store raw meat and poultry in a container or on a plate so juices can’t drip on
other foods.
Host:
When preparing raw meat and poultry our hands can get a
little messy. What is your advice for handling that?
Guest:
That's easy. Always wash hands with soap and warm water before and after contact with
raw meat and poultry or their juices. Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, the sink,
and countertops with hot, soapy water.
Host:
Wow! That sounds like it’s really important to keep your kitchen clean.
Guest:
Yes, it is extremely important and necessary to prevent cross-contamination. Remember,
cross-contamination is how bacteria spread. Keep raw meat and poultry and their juices
away from ready-to-eat food.
Host:
Cooks often marinate meats before cooking. That can be a source of cross contamination
as well. Can you tell us a little bit about how to avoid cross contamination when
marinating raw meat and poultry?
Guest:
Certainly, sauce used to marinate raw meat and poultry should never be used on cooked
foods unless it is boiled just before using. If some of the marinade is to be used as
a sauce on the cooked food, put a portion of the marinade aside ahead of time.
Host:
That’s it for this session. We’ve been talking to Kathy Bernard from the USDA Meat and
Poultry Hotline Thank you Kathy for your good advice on keeping foods separate. I’m
Gertie Hurley. 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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