Foodborne illness is preventable when you follow the basic safety guidelines – clean, separate, cook, and chill:
- Clean: Wash your hands and surfaces frequently.
- Germs that cause food poisoning can survive in many places and spread easily. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water or cold water before, during, and after preparing and before eating.
- Make sure everything touching food is clean, including hands, surfaces, cutting boards, utensils, and coolers.
- Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water.
- Separate: Don’t cross-contaminate.
- Raw meat, chicken and other poultry, seafood and eggs can spread germs to ready-to-eat food unless you keep them separate.
- Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood and eggs separate from ready-to-eat foods while shopping and when storing them in a refrigerator or cooler.
- Use separate cutting boards and plates for fruits and vegetables and for raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs.
- Cook: Cooked food is safe only after it’s been heated to a high enough temperature to kill harmful bacteria.
- Chill: Refrigerate food promptly.
- Raw meat and poultry, and cooked leftovers need to be chilled promptly to prevent bacteria from growing.
- Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours or 1 hour if the temperature is above 90F.
- Place food into shallow containers and immediately put in the refrigerator or freezer for fast cooling.
In addition, it’s recommended to ask guests about food allergies and be aware of the nine major food allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame), including reading food labels and separating foods containing allergens.
Resources
CDC: Food Safety
IDPH: Food Safety
IDPH: Food Safety Coloring Pages for Kids
Food Safety During a Power Outage / Seguridad de los Alimentos Durante un Apagón
Partnership for Food Safety Education
FoodSafety.gov
Holiday Turkey Safety
National Center for Home Food Preservation
