Горячая зона

Пытаться создать новое и exciting salsa в базарной площади может быть около как challenging как пытающся для того чтобы воссоздать колесо. Скептики скажут вам что будут только небесконечное количество потенциальных ингридиентов и их комбинации также подобно ограничены. Такой nay-говорить полно потерян на точных людях на […]

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: Тина 17-ого апреля 2009 - 11:30 am

Быть изготовлением еды будет серьезным делом these days. Над last year мы общаться с отозваниями еды сделали бы ваши волос завить. Специально для нас плохие дурачки в горячем деле соуса.

Мы имели томаты быть вспомненным. Мы имели перцы jalapeno быть вспомненным. Мы имели перцы serrano быть вспомненным. Мы имели арахисы быть вспомненным. Мы имели продукты использующ вспомненный соус Worcestershire. То не вклюает отозвания сразу не производят эффект горячая индустрия соуса; меламин в формуле младенца, tainted мяс сандвича, cEtc. Scary часть находиться в этом деле не обязательно что мы могли закончиться вверх на получая конце отозвания, но довольно что по мере того как время идет дальше и отслеживать и отчетность будут более превалирующими, больше отозваний для деталей что мы верим сейфу на леты воля произойдите.

Северные американцы находили серьезно интересуя почему цепь еды не безопасна, и быстро обвинить изготовления еды которые были предметом массивнейших отозваний еды. Теперь после того как я дарены, мы кажется, что будем виновницами и мы находимся в новостях много последн, но то потому что FDA и CFIA работали как раз немного более крепко для того чтобы обеспечить продовольственную безопасность продуктов come out of наши кухни. Но мы находимся в этой индустрии для того чтобы заработать деньг и то не случается если мы делаем пищевые продукты, то не безопасно для еды. В реальности, отозвания продукта очень дорогие и могут положить изготовления еды из дела, even if отозвание отрегулировано наилучшим образом.

Индустрия определяла и законодательствовала и снабжает несколько дорог защитить едоков. All of these involve systematic regular hygiene, close monitoring of identified hazard points in the manufacturing chain and maximizing the effectiveness of food recalls by issuing pre-emptive recalls; better safe than sorry, if you will. Unfortunately even 100% effectiveness of these systems cannot protect the consumer from getting food poisoning. Truth be told, according to food safety defense attorneys, Gass Weber Mullins LLC., our food safety system is in very good shape. In fact, they believe that the system is extremely well suited to identifying problems when they arise and to encouraging quick and effective solutions.

Of course, in pointing fingers, many facts about foodborne illness have been overlooked. The least of which is the fact that the food manufacturing industry isn’t really a key player in the spreading of foodborne illnesses; the largest portion of these illnesses are not because of manufacturers, at all. In researching an industry white paper on Food Safety I discovered that the majority of foodborne illness comes from poor hygiene and food handling in prep kitchens. A large number of cases can be attributed to restaurants, but by far the largest number of cases come from poor home kitchen hygiene. That’s right my friend. You just may be poisoning yourself and your family regularly and don’t even know it. In fact, statistically, in the US alone, 2 cases of food poisoning occur every second and 13 deaths from food poisoning occur every day.

So, in order to help, you, the consumer, the weak link in the food safety chain, strengthen the safety of your personal food supply, I’ve compiled the following information. This checklist comes from information available from the American Dietetic Association and will help you lessen the risk of contracting a foodborne illness from your home.

1. Wash your hands in warm soapy water often while preparing food. If you are handling raw meat or eggs, continue scrubbing for a full 20 seconds. How long is 20 seconds? Sing two choruses of Happy Birthday to yourself.

2. To prevent cross-contamination use two cutting boards. One strictly for raw meat, one for vegetables or ready to eat foods. If you want to be extra safe, keep a third one just for poultry. How do you remember which board is which? The ADA suggests colour coding your boards. Does this seem a little like overkill? Many chefs liken raw chicken to toxic waste. Think about it.

3. To clean your cutting board after it has been used to cut meat, clean it thoroughly in hot, soapy water, then disinfect with a chlorine bleach or other sanitizing solution and then rinse it with clean hot water. You can make your own bleach solution by diluting 2-3 teaspoons of bleach in one quart of water. If you are allergic to bleach, as I am, though, you might want to try chlorine substitutes. Many are available, but you want to be sure to find one that is effective in the destruction of E.coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Staphylococcus and Cryptosporidium. Two brands that I am aware of are Nature Clean, a natural liquid bleach and Melaleuca’s Thymol based product: Sol-U-Guard. There are certainly more out there, but the label will expressly tell you if they are suitable for killing the various bacteria responsible for foodborne illnesses.

4. Cook meat to “doneness” not based on how it looks, but rather by using a food thermometer. Push the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat, taking care that it doesn’t touch bone, fat or gristle. You can buy oven-safe or oven-probe thermometers that can be used while cooking.

USDA Recommended Minimum Internal Temperature Guidelines for ensuring food safety:
* Steaks, Roasts and Fish - 145 °F
* Pork, Ground Beef and Egg dishes - 160 °F
* Chicken and poultry - 165 °F

Wash the thermometer after cooking in hot soap water, clean with the disinfecting bleach solution and then rinse with hot clean water.

5. When you reheat food, use your thermometer again. Ensure that the bacteria is destroyed by heating to a minimum of 165 °F.

6. When thawing meat do it either in the refrigerator or in the microwave. If you use the microwave, though, the meat must be cooked immediately afterward.

7. The temperature setting on your refrigerator is important as well. In order to effectively slow the growth of bacteria, your refrigerator should be kept below 40 °F at all times. If your fridge doesn’t include one, you might want to add a thermometer to monitor the temperature, especially in the summer months when the door is opened more often.

8. What about your leftovers? They’re okay to leave cool off before refrigerating right? Well, no, not really. You want to be sure that your leftovers are refrigerated as soon as possible after eating. No more than two hours generally, and if the ambient temperature is above 80 °F, then reduce this time to one hour. Be safer, “cool” your leftovers in the fridge.

9. And this is the most important one, with summer BBQ season coming. Clean your grill each time you use it. Using the bleach or disinfectant solution at the end of the barbecue. Many will suggest that you add this step to the beginning of the barbecue, but if you are the sort to heat your barbecue prior to grilling, it will come up to temperature before you begin cooking and will eliminate the bacteria. To be extra safe (when cooking for high risk people), clean the grill prior to cooking.

10. Never put cooked meat back into or onto a dish that previously held raw meat or vegetables.

11. Pay attention to expiry dates on food products, especially those of raw meat.

Other tips for brown bagging, barbecuing, tailgating and picnics:

* Never use the meat marinade on the meat unless you bring it to a boil first.

* Use separate serving utensils for each dish.

* If you don’t have access to a refrigerator keep your brown bag lunch safe by using an insulated lunch bag or box with an ice pack (or you can freeze your juice box, which will keep your lunch safe while it melts.)

* Ensure your kitchen counters are clean from dinner or breakfast BEFORE making your brown bag lunch.

* Clean your insulated lunch bag or box every day.

* Substitute perishable lunch items with shelf-stable ones: trail mix, bagels, vegetable sticks, whole fruit, single serving tinned items that can be opened in time for the meal and of course, peanut butter (assuming you do not have a peanut allergy in your midst, that is). Note, melons are NOT considered shelf-stable fruit and are one of the worst food poisoning culprits during summer activities.

* Do not keep lunchtime leftovers for a late afternoon snack unless they are shelf-stable.

* Wash all fruits and vegetables regardless of whether they have an edible peel. Bananas and oranges can carry harmful bacteria on their skins that is spread to the fruit when you peel it.

* Include a moist towelette in your lunch bag if you will be somewhere that you cannot wash.

* Use your meat thermometer even when barbecuing, but add 5 degrees to the internal temperature for chicken and bring it up to 170 °F.

* Use separate utensils when grilling, one for each type of meat and one for vegetables.

* Do not par-cook meats for picnics or tailgating. Fully cook them on site.

* Keep your cooler well stocked with ice or better yet, get a cooler thermometer to insure that the internal temperature of your cooler stays below 40 °F.

Finally, it is important to be aware that the numbers governing foodborne illness are heavily skewed in favour of the illnesses because an indeterminable number of cases go unreported because the victim thinks they are suffering from the 24 hour flu or worse because some illnesses don’t appear until days or even weeks after infection.

Those most at risk from foodborne illnesses are pregnant women and their unborn or newborn children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems: those undergoing chemotherapy, transplant patients, diabetics, alcoholics and those with HIV or other immunodeficiences.

Be safe and keep the people you are feeding safe; wash your hands often and as Alton Brown of the Food Network would say good eating.


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10 Fiery Comments »

I love that you shine the light on consumers. I bet very few people adhere to basic food prep/handling guidelines. I watched in horror as my friend tried a spoonful of his chicken marinade AFTER the chicken had been marinating in it for a full day. Fortunately he didn’t get sick but still. When I yelled at him he had no clue what he was doing. I’ve also seen him take a bite of a raw, uncooked tiger shrimp. Again, he dodged a bullet and had no problems. But it goes to show that some people who are otherwise quite sane, have no clue how some foods can quite literally kill them.

As for us, we like to think we do a good job, but there are lots of things on your list (or the “borrowed” list) that we don’t do.

I really do need to get a digital meat thermometer. I usually go by feel, by touch and by obeying the recipe, but that may not be enough. The analog meat thermometer I have is totally unreliable and not worth using.

Great post Tina, hope to read more stuff from you in more than 140 character bursts (as entertaining as they’ve been!)

-Kyle

Comment fired by KyleApril 18, 2009- 4:24 pm


For those of you who are missing the 140 character reference that Kyle makes in his post. I twitter as @pepperfire.

If you are on twitter. Send me an @reply and say hello. I only hand add my followers.

Comment fired by Tina BrooksApril 18, 2009- 6:42 pm


Kyle, we too fail to use the meat thermometer at home. But then look who does MY cooking. :D

Comment fired by Tina BrooksApril 18, 2009- 6:43 pm


My motto….. burn it and don’t sweat it. ;)

Comment fired by DKApril 19, 2009- 2:33 pm


After my co-packer did a run of my Mellow Salsa, they sent it to the college to be tested. The day before a show they called and told me that it tested positive for e-coli. I pulled all of the jars out of the show and had the batch retested. The test came back clear and it was discovered that the tester didnt wash their hands after going to the bathroom. The college didnt charge me for either test but that didnt make up for the money I lost at the show.

Comment fired by XeroApril 29, 2009- 1:07 pm


Xero, salsa received. thanks!

Comment fired by Buddah — April 29, 2009- 1:25 pm


Xero I hope you’ve had a chat with your lawyer. Have you found a new copacker?

Comment fired by Tina BrooksApril 29, 2009- 1:31 pm


It wasnt the co-packers fault. It was the first year student at the college that was doing the testing at 0300 in the morning. The tests were redone with other jars from the same batch, by the supervisor, and everything was as it should be.

I’m glad you got it Buddah.

Comment fired by XeroApril 30, 2009- 1:16 pm


Are you serious? That’s insane!

Did you have a chat with your lawyer? I’ve never heard of such a thing. There must be some liability somewhere.

Comment fired by Tina BrooksApril 30, 2009- 4:38 pm


In that case I’ll have to get a lawyer.

Comment fired by XeroApril 30, 2009- 6:20 pm


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