Food Safety

Food Safety Tips

Make sure you give food safety important consideration when packing your vegetarian lunchbox and when preparing any food.

Did you know:

1:10 people in the UK suffers from a foodborne illness each year (Food Standard Agency)

In the USA there are an estimated 76 millions cases of foodborne illness with 5,000 related deaths each year (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention).

Food for thought!

Follow these food safety tips to ensure your lunchbox stays healthy. You do not want to be one of those statistics!

What can you do?

Food poisoning bacteria rapidly grow in the right conditions – warmth and moisture. One little bacterium can multiply to 4 million in the space of 8 hours. So make sure your lunchbox does not give them a feast!

Preparation

Hygiene, hygiene, hygiene! Always wash and dry your hands immediately before preparing food. Ensure the work surface and any utensils used are clean.

A word about meat (sorry!). If there are any carnivores in your home, make sure they keep raw meat away from other food stuffs. (I am sure you do anyway!). Raw meat should always be on the bottom shelf of the fridge and well covered. This will help to prevent nasty blood and other meat juices leaking out onto your food!

A separate chopping board should be used for meat preparation.

Storage

Remember the 3 R’s: Right temperature | Right place | Right time

Right Temperature

Keeping your food at the correct temperature is important for food safety. If it is meant to be hot, keep it hot. If it should be cold – make sure it stays cold. High temperatures will kill bacteria and cold temperatures slow down their growth.

Leftovers or previously cooked food should be cooled as quickly as possible and refrigerated – within 1–2 hours!

You can do this by:

Dividing the food into smaller portions

Place food in a wide dish and stand in ice cold water

Run cold water through some foods e.g. cooked grains*

Place the food in the coolest part of the house, properly covered

Never put hot food in a fridge or freezer. You will warm the temperature of the appliance and put other food at risk.

*Rice and grains– cool cooked rice and grains within an hour if possible and refrigerate. These foods can contain food poisoning spores which can germinate at room temperate and make you ill!

When food is reheated – make sure it is piping hot.

Right Place – packing your lunchbox

Food safety means keeping your food in the right place.

Store perishable foods in the fridge e.g. foods with a use by date, leftover food and salads.

Keep food in the fridge until the last minute.

Use an insulated lunchbox and ice pack.

You can freeze a small carton of drink to act as an ice pack

Keep your lunchbox away from strong heat sources e.g. radiators, out of direct sunlight etc

If taking hot food in a flask – fill the flask with boiling water first. This will help to “sterilise” it. It will also pre-warm the flask.

Always clean your containers thoroughly after every use.

Right Time

Generally, any food that is perishable should not be left out of the fridge for more than 2 hours, 1 hour in hot weather.

Leftovers – should be refrigerated and used within 48hours.

Check any dates and storage instructions on food packets. Here are some terms used on food packaging in the UK:

Use by date: found on foods that are highly perishable. Food eaten after this date is not advised.

Best buy date: used on foods with a longer shelf life. This date indicates the food will stay in good condition until the date specified.

Use your common sense - If in doubt, throw it out!

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