Food Safety

Also see Product Recalls

Food safety is pretty high on everyone's list of "things to be aware of," especially in light of the food recalls and poisoning scares that seem to happen all too frequently. But believe it or not, the ones you hear about on the TV news aren't the most common — a good deal of food poisoning is caused by improper food handling in home kitchens.

Got your attention? Good. Being aware of food safety in your own home — things like proper refrigeration and preventing cross-contamination — is the best way to keep food-borne illness at bay.

As you might guess, Whole Foods Market knows an awful lot about food and keeping it safe is a top priority. Here's the scoop on how to handle foods safely at home.

Safe Shopping

• Buy cold food last; get it home fast.
• Never choose packages that are torn or leaking.
• Don't buy foods past "sell–by" or expiration dates.
• Put raw meat and poultry into a plastic bag so meat juices won't cross–contaminate cooked foods or those eaten raw, such as vegetables or fruit.
• Place refrigerated or frozen items in the shopping cart last, right before heading for the checkout counter.
• When loading the car in warm weather, keep perishable items inside the air–conditioned car—not in the trunk.
• Drive immediately home from the grocery store. If you live farther away than 30 minutes, bring a cooler with ice and place perishables in it.

Safe Storage of Foods

• Keep it safe; refrigerate.
• Unload perishable foods from the car first and immediately refrigerate them. Place securely wrapped packages of raw meat, poultry, or fish in the meat drawer or coldest section of your refrigerator.
• Check the temperature of your refrigerator with an appliance thermometer. To slow bacterial growth, the refrigerator should be at 40°F and the freezer at 0°F.
• 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.

Safe Food Preparation

• Keep everything clean!
• Wash hands before and after handling raw meat and poultry.
• Sanitize cutting boards often in a solution of 1 teaspoon chlorine bleach in 1 quart of water. Wash kitchen towels and cloths often in hot water in washing machine.
• Don't cross–contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash hands, cutting board, knife, and counter tops with hot soapy water.
• Marinate meat and poultry in a covered dish in the refrigerator.

Thaw Food Safely

• Refrigerator: Allows slow, safe thawing. Make sure thawing juices do not drip on other foods.
• Cold Water: For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag and submerge in cold tap water.
• Microwave: Cook meat and poultry immediately after microwave thawing.

Safe Cooking

• Use a food thermometer.
• Cook ground meats to 160°F.
• Cook ground poultry to 165°F.
• Beef, veal and lamb steaks, roasts, and chops may be cooked to 145°–170°F.
• Cook all cuts of fresh pork to 160°F.
• Poultry should reach 165°F.
• Cook shellfish until opaque.
• Cook fish until it flakes easily with fork.
• Cook eggs until firm.

Serving Food Safely

• Never leave food out over 2 hours. (1 hour in temperature above 90°F.) Bacteria that cause foodborne illness grow rapidly at room temperature.
• Keep hot food hot! Cold food cold!
• When serving food at a buffet, keep hot food over a heat source and keep cold food on ice. Keep platters of food refrigerated until time to serve or heat them.
• Carry perishable picnic foods in a cooler with a cold pack or ice. Set the cooler in the shade and open the lid as little as possible.

Handling Leftovers Safely

• Divide foods into shallow containers for rapid cooling. Put food directly in the refrigerator or freezer.
• Use cooked leftovers within 4 days.