National Food Safety Education Month - Food Safety Guide: Food Safety Tips

Food Safety Quick Tips

• Keep an appliance thermometer in your refrigerator and freezer.
• Refrigerator should be 40 °F or below.
• Freezer should be 0 °F or below.
• Don’t taste test food that you are not sure is safe.
• Food dropped on the floor should be thrown away – 0-second rule.
• When in doubt, throw it out!
• Cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats within 2 days; other beef, veal, lamb, or pork, within 3 to 5 days.

Lunchbox Safety
•    Pack lunches in an insulated lunch bag with enough cold sources to ensure perishables stay below 40 F. Perishable food can be unsafe to eat by lunchtime if packed in a paper bag or without a cold source.
•    Cold sources include frozen gel packs, juice boxes, or bottles of water.
•    If you’re packing a hot lunch such as soup, chili, or stew, use an insulated container to keep it hot. Fill the container with boiling water, let it stand for a few minutes, then, empty it, and then put in the hot food. Keep the insulated container closed until lunchtime to keep the food hot at 140 F or above.
•    Common food options that don’t need refrigeration include whole fruits (such as apples, bananas, and oranges), raw, uncut vegetables, hard cheeses (such as cheddar cheese), shelf-stable food (canned tuna, beef jerky, pepperoni sticks, etc.), chips, bread, crackers, peanut butter and jelly, and pickles.

Delivery and Takeout Food Safety
•  Food Delivery Safety: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/food-safety-meal-kits.html
•  USDA Food Safety Inspection Service: Safe Handling of Take-out Foods

For additional food safety and storage guidelines, download the FoodKeeper app or search the Food Safety Database.
Sources: USDA FSIS, FDA, FoodSafety.gov

Food Handling and Preparation Tips

• Wash your hands with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds before, during, and after preparing food and before eating.

• Don’t wash raw chicken or meat. Juices can splash onto surrounding surfaces and spread bacteria.

• Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item.

• Sanitize cutting boards by using a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water.

• Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces. If you use cloth towels, launder them often in the hot cycle.

• Sanitize your sponges every other day and replace them every 2 weeks.

• Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Scrub firm produce with a clean produce brush.

• Clean the lids of canned goods before opening.

• Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, knife, and counter tops with hot, soapy water.

• Marinate meat and poultry in a covered dish in the refrigerator. Not on the counter.

        For more information go to USDA FSIS, CDC, FDA, Food Safety.gov

Safe Cooking Practices

• Cook foods to the recommended temperature using a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the food. 

• Cook raw beef, fish, pork, lamb and veal steaks, and roast to a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees.

• Cook raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

• Cook poultry to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

• When checking the temperature of ground beef or poultry burgers, insert the food thermometer through the side of the patty that is the thickest, until the probe reaches the center. Beef burgers should be at least 160 degrees, and poultry burgers should be at least 165 degrees.

         For more information go to FoodSafety.gov's Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart for Cooking, USDA FSIS, CDC, FDA.

2-Hour Rule

• Refrigerate meat, eggs, casseroles, and other perishables within 2 hours after purchase or delivery
• Discard perishables left at room temperature longer than 2 hours (1 hour at 90+ °F)
• Monitor internal temperature with a food thermometer
• Food is not safe between 40 °F and 140 °F
• Keep Hot Foods above 140 °F
• Keep Cold Foods below 40 °F
• Refrigerate leftovers in shallow covered containers
• Slice roast, ham, and turkey into small portions for storage in the refrigerator or freezer
• Turkey legs, wings, and thighs can be left whole
• 4 Steps to Food Safety 

Outdoor Event Food Safety

• Use small platters and nest cold serving dishes in bowls of ice
• Replace serving platters often with fresh refrigerated platters
• Don’t add fresh food to food on the table
• Coolers packed with ice and kept in the shade can be  used to cool food
• Remember the 2-hour rule when removing food from the cooler
• For more information:
  FDA Handling Food Safely While Eating Outdoors
  https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/handling-food-safely-while-eating-outdoor

Food Safety in a Power Outage

• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed.
• Full freezer will stay frozen for about 2 days, half freezer for 1 day.
• Refrigerated foods should be safe if power is out no more than 4 hours.
• You can buy bags of ice to put with food in refrigerator or freezer or keep iced in a cooler.
• 2-hour rule – perishable thawed foods kept at 40 °F or more for more than 2 hours should be discarded.
• A few items are okay for longer than 2 hours over 40 °F including hard cheeses (Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, Parmesan, and Provolone), butter, margarine, fruit juice, sauces, jams, pickles, olives, etc. Discard fish or oyster sauce, opened cream-based dressings, and opened jars of spaghetti sauce.

Refrigerator Storage 

• Cooked meat, poultry, fish/shellfish, sushi (3-4 days)
• Raw ground meats, poultry fish, shellfish, raw sushi (1-2 days before cooking or freezing)
• Raw beef, veal, lamb, pork roast, steak, chops (3-5 days before cooking or freezing)
• Milk (7 days)
• Buttermilk (2 weeks)
• Eggs in carton (3-5 weeks, store in coldest part of refrigerator – not the door)
• Yogurt (1-2 weeks)
• Hard boiled eggs (1 week)
• Pizza (3 to 4 days)
• Luncheon meats, egg, tuna, and macaroni salads (3-5 days)
• Cooked vegetables (3-4 days)
• Soft cheeses – cottage cheese, ricotta, brie (1 week)
• Hard cheeses – cheddar, swiss, parmesan (6 months unopened, 3-4 weeks opened)
• Processed cheese slices (1-2 months)
• Sour cream (1-3 weeks)
• Cool food rapidly to reach a safe-storage temperature of 40° F or below. Divide large amounts of food into shallow containers. Divide pots of soup into smaller containers to cool faster.
• Cut whole roasts, hams, turkey into smaller pieces and refrigerate. Slice breast meat; legs and wings may be left whole.
• Hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator or be rapidly chilled in an ice or cold water bath before refrigerating.
• Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature was above 90 °F).

Freezer Storage Limits

• Cooked meat or poultry (2 to 6 months)
• Cooked fish (3 months)
• Raw Fish (3-8 months)
• Raw shellfish (3-12 months)
• Pizza (1 to 2 months)
• Luncheon meats (1 to 2 months)
• Yogurt (1-2 months)
• Milk, buttermilk (3 months)
• Salads with mayonnaise do not freeze well
• Foods kept longer than storage times may be drier and taste differently

For additional food storage guidelines, download the FoodKeeper App and search the food safety database or search the database online at https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/foodkeeper-app

Thawing Foods

• Thaw frozen foods in refrigerator, cold water, or microwave.
• Thaw frozen cooked foods in the refrigerator allowing  24 hours for every 5 pounds of cooked meat
• Do not thaw foods on the counter or in the sink with hot water
• Frozen food can be put into the oven without thawing
• Consume thawed food within 3 to 4 days.
• Meat defrosted in the refrigerator can be refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed in microwave, cook before refreezing.
• Make sure thawing meat and poultry juices do not drip onto other food.
• Cold Water—For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag. Submerge in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook immediately after thawing. Can refreeze after cooking.
• Microwave—Thawing leftovers, heat until food reaches 165° F. Cook meat and poultry immediately after microwave thawing. Food thawed in a microwave can be refrozen.
• You can thaw leftovers in the refrigerator, remove the portion that you need, and refreeze the remaining portion.
• The only way to know your frozen product is safe to eat is by confirming that it has reached a safe internal temperature measured with a food thermometer. Frozen food is not finished cooking until it reaches the recommended internal temperature.
• Look for USDA or State Mark of Inspection on packaging for specific thawing, reheating, and storing recommendations.
• For more information: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/big-thaw-safe-defrosting-methods

Reheating Foods

• Reheat meat to an internal temperature of at least 165 °F
• Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating.
• Reheat in the oven no lower than 325 °F
• When reheating in the microwave oven, cover and rotate food for even heating
• Allow standing time before checking the internal temperature of the food
• Consult your microwave oven owner's manual for recommended times and power levels
• You can reheat frozen leftovers without thawing first in a saucepan or microwave.
• Cover leftovers to reheat to retain moisture and ensure that food will heat all the way through
• Reheating leftovers in a slow cooker is not recommended. Cooked food should be reheated on the stove, in a microwave, or in a conventional oven until it reaches 165 °F. Then the hot food can be placed in a preheated slow cooker to keep it hot for serving—at least 140 °F as measured with a food thermometer.

Food Safety Hotlines/Help Lines:

• Ask USDA: food safety.
•  Meat and Poultry Hotline 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. ET, Monday - Friday via:
  • Phone: 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854)
  • Email: MPHotline@usda.gov
  • Live chat: ask.usda.gov

• FDA's Food and Cosmetic Information Center (FCIC)  answers questions about nutrition and the safety and labeling of food, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. Hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. Call 1-888-SAFEFOOD (1-888-723-3366), or submit questions using the online form.