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What's Cooking?
Four Simple Steps to Preparing Food Safely at Home
Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often
Bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, utensils, sponges and counter tops. Here's how to Fight BAC:
- Wash your
hands with hot soapy water before handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers and handling pets.
- Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
- Use plastic or other non-porous cutting boards. These
boards should be run through the dishwasher -- or washed in hot soapy water -- after use.
- Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use
cloth towels, wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.
Separate: Don't cross-contaminate
Cross-contamination is the scientific word for
how bacteria can be spread from one food product to another. This is especially true when handling
raw meat, poultry and seafood, so keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods. Here's how to Fight BAC:
- Separate raw meat, poultry and seafood from other foods in your grocery shopping cart and in your refrigerator.
- If possible, use a different cutting board for raw meat products.
- Always wash hands, cutting boards, dishes and utensils with hot soapy water after they come in contact with raw meat, poultry and seafood.
- Never place cooked food on a plate which previously held raw meat, poultry or seafood.
Cook: Cook to proper temperatures
Food safety experts agree that foods are properly cooked when they are heated
for a long enough time and at a high enough temperature to kill the
harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness. The best way to
Fight BAC is to:
- Use a clean thermometer, which measures the internal temperature of cooked foods, to make sure meat, poultry, casseroles and other foods are
cooked all the way through.
- Cook roasts and steaks to at least 145°F. Whole poultry should be cooked to 180°F for doneness.
- Cook ground beef, where bacteria can spread during processing, to at least 160°F.
Information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) link eating
undercooked, pink ground beef with a higher risk of illness. If a thermometer is not available, do not eat ground beef that is still pink inside.
- Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm. Don't use recipes in which eggs remain raw or only partially cooked.
- Fish should be opaque and flake easily with a fork.
- When cooking in a microwave oven,
make sure there are no cold spots in food where bacteria can survive. For best results, cover food, stir and rotate for even cooking. If there is no turntable, rotate the dish by hand once or twice during cooking.
- Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating. Heat other leftovers thoroughly to 165°F.
Chill: Refrigerate promptly
Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures keep harmful
bacteria from growing and multiplying. So, set your refrigerator no
higher than 40°F and the freezer unit at 0°F.
Checking these temperatures occasionally with an appliance thermometer.
Then, Fight BAC by following these steps:
- Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared food and leftovers
within two hours.
- Never defrost food at room temperature. Thaw food in
the refrigerator, under cold running water or in the microwave.
Marinate foods in the refrigerator.
- Divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers
for quick cooling in the refrigerator.
- Don't pack the refrigerator. Cool air must circulate to keep food safe.
Additional Tips--Safe Handling of Fruits and Vegetables
- Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20
seconds before and after handling food, especially fresh whole fruits
and vegetables and raw meat, poultry and fish. Clean under fingernails,
too.
- Rinse raw produce in water. Don't use soap or
other detergents. If necessary--and appropriate--use a small scrub
brush to remove surface dirt.
- Use smooth, durable and nonabsorbent cutting boards
that can be cleaned and sanitized easily.
- Wash cutting boards with hot water, soap and a
scrub brush to remove food particles. Then sanitize the boards by
putting them through the automatic dishwasher or rinsing them in a
solution of 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) of chlorine bleach to 1 quart
(about 1 liter) of water. Always wash boards and knives after cutting
raw meat, poultry or seafood and before cutting another food to prevent
cross-contamination.
- Store cut, peeled and broken-apart fruits and
vegetables (such as melon balls) at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit
(5 degrees Celsius)--that is, in the refrigerator.
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Apply the Heat ... and Fight BAC
Cooking food to the proper temperature kills harmful bacteria.
This includes raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs, as well as foods that
are thoroughly cooked upon purchase, but that may become contaminated
during storage or handling.
Re-heat ready-to-eat foods such as hot dogs, luncheon meats, cold cuts,
fermented and dry sausage, and other deli-style meat and poultry
products until they are steaming hot. If you cannot re-heat these
foods, do not eat them.
Thoroughly cook other foods as follows:
Raw Food |
Internal Temperature |
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Ground Products |
Hamburger |
160°F |
Beef, veal, lamb, pork |
160°F |
Chicken, turkey |
165°F |
Beef, Veal, Lamb |
Roasts & Steaks |
medium-rare |
145°F |
medium |
160°F |
well-done |
170°F |
Pork |
Chops, roast, ribs |
medium |
160°F |
well-done |
170°F |
Ham, fresh |
160°F |
Sausage, fresh |
160°F |
Poultry |
Chicken, whole & pieces |
180°F |
Duck |
180°F |
Turkey (unstuffed) |
180°F |
Whole |
180°F |
Breast |
170°F |
Dark meat |
180°F |
Stuffing (cooked separately) |
165°F |
Eggs |
Fried, poached |
yolk & white are firm |
Casseroles |
160°F |
Sauces, custards |
160°F |
This chart has been adapted for home use and is consistent with consumer guidelines from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). |
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See also: Can Your Kitchen
Pass the Food Safety Test?
Next: Eating Out & Bringing
Food Home
Additional information on
Fight BAC!
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