Preventing Food Poisoning is Cool

Ever great journey begins with one step, and the first step in cooking is learning that basics of kitchen safety. Ever had food poisoning? I spent a weekend with food poisoning and it was no fun. That was the result of a cook forgetting their basic kitchen safety rules. Ever gotten a nasty cut while slicing and dicing? That’s another catastrophe that could have been prevented with a little knowledge of cooking safety.

The best guard against food poisoning is getting the freshest meat available and using it as soon as possible, this will prevent bacterial growth. Once you get it home, rinse it in cold water before cooking, making sure not to drip raw meat juices on anything that will come in contact with anything that won’t be getting cooked. Once cleaned it should be seasoned, marinated, or thrown straight into whatever it’s getting cooked. Once its starts cooking, it isn’t done until its juices run clear and no raw meat remains. You may have to slice open whatever piece of meat your cooking to be sure, and keep cooking if you find any raw meat, especially with ground meats because unlike regular cuts of meat where bacteria is primarily on the surface of the meat, the surface of the meat gets incorporated throughout the ground meat, increase your chances of illness causing bacteria not getting killed in the cooking process. And of course, wash your hands and anything raw meat as touched thoroughly with hot soapy water to prevent cross contamination.

Another sneaky way germs can get you sick is when they stick around on your cutting boards, counter tops, and sponges. Cutting boards, especially wooden cutting boards, can suck up and hold onto bacteria, putting you at risk. Soaking your cutting boarding in hot soapy water with a little bleach thrown in once a week or right after contact with raw meat is a good way to keep your cutting board from becoming a bacteria breeding ground. Before and after you cook you should also thoroughly clean your counters with a disinfect it to prevent your food from picking up any unseen trouble makers. As for your sponge, if you use your dishwasher daily you can toss it in there, or microwave it daily for a minute or two to kill all bacteria. Replacing your sponge every week or so is a good idea and a new kitchen towel should be used each day as well. Also it’s a good practice to wash your hands before and after cooking to prevent in germs from going into your food, or you taking away any germs with you after you’re done cooking.

Although it’s not too common today, botulism is another way you can get sick from food. Typically if you have a can of food that is bulging or bent in anyway, it may have botulism, a type of bacteria found when things are not canned or jarred in proper sanitary conditions.

Lately there have been a lot of occurrences of food poisoning in the news from fresh fruits and vegetables. All fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed. Melons and tough skinned fruits like avocados can be washed on the outside with antibacterial soap and rinsed thoroughly. Leafy vegetables, the likely culprit of my weekend encounter with food poisoning, should be purchased fresh and used as soon as possible, rinsed thoroughly, washed with fruit and vegetable cleaners available at most supermarkets, and then dried thoroughly. Of course if this vegetable is being recalled and has reports of consumers getting E-coli. from consuming it, this probably won’t do the trick and you should steer clear.

So there you have it. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be much less likely to give yourself or loved ones an experience they would like to forget.

Happy cooking!

-Melissa Kilmer