Everyone needs food to perform their activities and body functions. In enjoying food, it is important to pay attention to the food safety of the food, especially in the midst of the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The purpose of food safety itself is to prevent food or drinks from being contaminated by bacteria. One of the steps that must be considered in food safety is the process of selecting, storing, and processing the right food.
Maybe we ask ourselves: "Why is food safety important?". This is because food containing bacteria, viruses, parasites, or harmful chemicals can cause more than 200 different diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancer. Based on data from the Directorate of Environmental Health and Public Health Emergency Operation Center (PHEOC) of the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 2017, there were 163 outbreaks of food poisoning, 7132 cases with a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 0.1%.
Mostly, food safety issues are caused by pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria that cause food poisoning. Some examples of foods that are at high risk of causing illness or food poisoning in general include eggs, poultry meat, fresh fruits, raw meat, salads, undercooked seafood and raw dairy products. These ingredients can be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria that cause infections if precautions are not taken.
Here are four food safety steps to help you and your family stay safe:
1. Hygiene
Always wash hands before touching food, then wash containers, cooking utensils, and food before processing. Wash using running water and soap. Do this before and after touching food.
- Wash your cutting boards, plates, forks, spoons, knives and countertops with a soapy water solution.
- Rinse fruits and vegetables.
- You can wash meat, poultry, fish and eggs, then make sure the area is clean before reusing it to wash other food items.
- Clean the lids of canned food before opening.
2. Separating Food
Store raw foods according to their place. Germs can spread from one food to another. Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in sealed containers. This can be applied to your grocery cart and refrigerator.
3. Refrigeration
Once you've done steps 1 and 2, you can put your ingredients into the fridge if you don't want to process them immediately.
4. Cooking
Food must be kept hot because heat kills germs. Cook at a safe temperature, for example:
- Fish is generally 62°C
- Beef and Lamb 70°C
- Turkey, Chicken, Duck 74°C
Make sure the food is cooked perfectly.
Implementing food safety is very important. By eating safe and clean food, families can avoid various diseases caused by food containing bacteria, viruses, parasites, or harmful chemicals.
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