What Do You Know About Food Safety?
Each year, millions of Americans become ill from foodborne illnesses and thousands die. To
help prevent foodborne illness, you can take steps to ensure the safety of the food you eat. To learn more about food
safety, take this quiz, based on information from the FDA.
1. You should use soap to clean your fruits and vegetables before eating them.
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You should not use soap, detergents, or bleaches on fruits or vegetables, according to the FDA. Instead, rinse them thoroughly under running water. If you must remove surface dirt, use a small vegetable brush. Cut out damaged or bruised areas.
2. Tomatoes that are leaking should not be eaten.
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Tomatoes that are leaking have spoiled and should not be eaten. The bacteria found in rotting tomatoes can cause stomach upset and diarrhea.
3. Don't buy food in damaged containers at the grocery.
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Packaging is meant to protect the food item from bacteria and other contamination. If a container is damaged, the food inside could be contaminated.
4. A product that has passed its "Best If Used By" date should be discarded because it is no longer safe to eat.
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This date is used to indicate when a food may begin to decline in flavor or quality. It does not refer to safety. "Expiration Date" indicates the last date that a food should be eaten. "Sell By" and "Use By" are similar in purpose to the "Best If Used By" date. If you see a food item at a store that has passed its "Best If Used By" date, you might want to pass it up for something fresher.
5. Food that is packaged "sous vide" doesn't need refrigeration.
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"Sous vide" means "under vacuum." These plastic pouches contain either raw foods or foods that have been partially cooked, then sealed in a vacuum before processing with heat. This kind of packaging should be refrigerated and should keep three to four weeks. When you are ready to eat it, the pouch is heated in boiling water.
6. When you buy hot foods, you should eat them within two hours.
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When you buy hot cooked food, you should eat it within two hours to avoid harmful bacteria that begin to multiply. If you aren't eating the food within two hours and want to keep it hot, place the food in the oven at or above 140 degrees. Cover food in the oven to keep it moist. If you want to bring home leftovers from a restaurant meal, but don't expect to be home within two hours, it's safer to pass up the leftovers. Cold foods should get similar care. If you are not eating cold food within two hours after buying or preparing it, put it in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.
7. If you don't eat all of your brown bag lunch, you should always pitch the leftovers when you get home from work or school.
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If the leftovers are perishable—an egg salad sandwich, for instance—and you did not have a cold pack in your lunch bag, you should throw out the sandwich. Foods that have been kept properly cold, or that are nonperishable, can be saved for another meal. When in doubt, however, you should discard a food item rather than eating it.
8. To kill any Salmonella present on or inside a raw egg, cook eggs until the yolk is firm.
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Even eggs that are clean and have uncracked shells may occasionally contain Salmonella bacteria, which can cause an intestinal infection. For safety, eggs should be cooked until the yolks and whites are firm. Scrambled eggs should be firm throughout.
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