1.
Scrub those hands! Even if your
hands don’t look dirty, they can still have
lots of germs on them that can get on your food
and make you sick.
* Give your hands a good scrubbing before you
start touching food and after you touch raw meat,
chicken, fish or eggs.
* Lather up with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds—the
amount of time it takes to sing two choruses of
“Happy Birthday!”
* Wash your hands again after you finish fixing
food.
2.
Keep raw foods that will get cooked away from
foods that won’t get cooked!
Bacteria (germs) in raw meat, chicken, fish or
eggs are killed when these foods get cooked right.
But if the bacteria get onto foods that don’t
get cooked, like veggies for salad, you can get
sick from eating them.
* Don’t cut up raw meat and foods that don’t
get cooked with the same knife and cutting board
unless you clean them like crazy in between—ask
an adult for help, especially with sharp objects.
* Better yet, see about having two different-colored
cutting boards—one for raw meats and one
for other foods.
* Don’t eat uncooked batter or cookie dough
without an adult’s permission. It might
contain raw eggs, which can make you sick.
3.
Take your food’s temperature! Cooking
meat, chicken, fish or eggs to the right temperature
kills bacteria and makes sure your dish is cooked
to perfection!
* Team up with an adult to use a meat thermometer.
They can put the thermometer in the food and you
can read the temperature dial!
4.
Make sure your food chills out—in the fridge!
Bacteria just love warm temperatures.
* Get stuff like meat, chicken, fish, eggs, milk,
yogurt and cheese in the fridge—FAST!
* Is there a thermometer in your fridge? If not,
ask an adult about getting one. To keep foods
safe, be sure the temp inside your fridge reads
40° F or below.
* Don’t let leftovers lay around. Get them
into the fridge ASAP, but definitely within two
hours after they’re cooked. If it’s
really hot out, make that one hour.
Printed with permission from
the International Food Information Council (IFIC)
Foundation www.ific.org. |
