Chucking a chop or 10 on the barbie is a great way to bond with mates and family, but be careful or you may unwittingly feed them a bout of food poisoning.
You may have thought the male slob stereotype had gone the way of the dinosaur, but blokes have the grubbiest food practices of all, says The Australian Food Safety Information Council.
Poor food handling hygiene is linked to 20% of Australia’s annual 5.4 million cases of food poisoning, with the finger being pointed at men, who, says the Council, know less than women about food safety and hygiene.
Council Chairman, Dr Michael Eyles, said he was shocked at learning that a Food Safety Information Council survey found that 29% of men (compared to just 7% of women) didn’t wash their hands at all after using the bathroom in the food hall in a shopping centre.
“There is no excuse for this. Australians understand how to wash their hands. Correct hand washing reduces your risk of food poisoning and you may also find that you also get fewer bouts of colds and flu as well,” said Dr Eyles.
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Not knowing much about hygiene may not have been a big deal in the past but with more men enjoying cooking, they could be putting their own and others health at risk.
Safe food practices
Remember these three simple things when working with food:
1. Keep it clean
Having clean hands dramatically decreases the risk of giving yourself, family and friends food poisoning and other nasties. Always wash your hands well after going to the toilet or touching animals and before handling, preparing, cooking or storing food.
Stick to the 20/20 rule before cooking:
• Wash your hands for 20 seconds with warm soapy water
• Dry your hands for 20 seconds
It's important to repeat this frequently - especially after handling raw meats, or any vegetables with visible soil on them.
Wash and dry your equipment during food preparation
Always wash your knives, utensils and cutting boards with soap and warm water, and dry them thoroughly in between handling different sorts of foods. This is really important with raw meats and vegetables. So if you chop up chicken on the chopping board, wash and dry the board before you dice n’ slice the carrots.
2. Keep it chilled
• As soon as possible after buying, stash meat, dairy foods, vegetables, and salad ingredients in the fridge at or below 5 º C. Don't leave food in your car or put it into a fridge that’s not cold enough. And don’t leave food that belongs in the fridge sitting on the kitchen bench!
• Use a fridge thermometer to make sure the temperature is at or below 5ºC. The temperature should be adjusted in line with changing seasons and the amount of food in there. If there’s a stack of stuff in your fridge, lower the temperature.
• Refrigerate leftovers immediately. Don’t wait to things have cooled down.
• Cooked food should be stored in covered containers and either put in the fridge to cool, or frozen immediately.
• Defrost frozen foods in the fridge NOT on the kitchen bench, windowsill or the back porch. Put defrosting items in a dish or container so they don’t drip goo onto other food items.
Your rule should be: 'If in doubt, throw it out.'
3. Cook food properly
• Cook chicken, minced or boned meats, hamburger, stuffed meats and sausages right through until the juices are clear. Stick with a fork to get juice to run out.
• Serve hot food steaming hot > 60ºC.
• Defrost frozen poultry and rolled and stuffed meats thoroughly before cooking. Thawing things in the oven is NOT an option if you value your health.
Always follow cooking instructions on packaged foods.
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Play it safe with food or else!
Food poisoning is caused by bacteria or viruses getting into food via improper handling, preparation, cooking or storing. You’ll soon know if you’ve got food poisoning as the symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diahorrea, cramps and abdominal pain.
Fancy trying your hand at a bbq for your mates this weekend? Click here for some easy (and healthy) recipes.
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