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5 Common Household Food Safety Mistakes

1. Improperly Cleaning Fruits and Vegetables

No matter you are going to eat the skin of a fruit or vegetable or not, you need to rinse it before consumption. Once the skins of fruits and vegetables become incomplete, bacteria can enter the food. Just imagine the sanitary conditions while transporting the crops. However, do not use soap, detergent, or bleach to clean the skins. Only the use of running water would be good.

2. Thawing On Kitchen Counter

Bacteria thrive easily at room temperature. Even if the food was frozen, it is not safe to thaw it at room temperature. If you want to defrost raw meat, a better way is to thaw it in the fridge. For example, thaw the meat tonight in the fridge that you plan to eat at noon tomorrow. But if you are in a rush, it's relatively safe to defrost your food in a microwave. Otherwise, keep food in cold water while keeping it dry, however, remember to change the water at least every 30 minutes. Of course, it is also okay to thaw food by rinsing it continuously with cold water, yet this is relatively environmentally unfriendly.

3. Keep Used Sponge Moist 

Bacteria thrive easily when there are water and nutrients under room temperature. The cleaning sponge in our kitchen would be a perfect spot for bacteria to grow if you don’t appropriately clean it. Although we usually use the cleaning sponge with dish detergent, there is always invisible food residue in the sponge and those residues would be the perfect food for bacteria. So if you can't clean the cleaning sponge properly and regularly, don’t forget to dry it in a ventilated area every time after using it. Otherwise, it's like you are cultivating bacteria at home.

4. Washing Hands Without Detergent Before Handling Food 

Many people wash hands without detergent and thinking that tap water can clean their hands properly; however, food can easily be contaminated by unclean hands. Eating contaminated food for people with poor immune systems, especially the elderly and children, could be deadly. People's intestinal tract itself contains a large amount of e. coli, if a staff member in charge of the primary school group fan did not wash his hands after going to the toilet and handled food, it would easily cause the outbreak of foodborne diseases, and primary school students sent to the hospital. The human gut originally contains a lot of E. coli. If a catering staff does not appropriately clean his hands after using restrooms, the food he handles afterward is in a very high chance of causing foodborne outbreaks.

5. Keeping Food for Too Long

Food should not be left in the refrigerator either cooked or raw for too long. It's impossible to tell if the bacteria have destroyed the food just by our sense of smell or sight. Moreover, even a small bite of contaminated food can make you sick. Usually, most raw animal food can only be stored in a fridge for 2 to 4 days, and leftovers must be eaten within 3 to 4 days. Attachment is an interesting "refrigerated food storage form" downloaded from foodsafety.gov for your reference.mUsually most undercooked animal food can only be stored in a freezer for two to four days, and leftovers in the fridge must be eaten within three or four days.

Attached is a Cold Food Storage Chart that I downloaded from foodsafety.gov for your reference.






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