Before you blame a flu bug for an upset stomach, consider that foodborne illness often starts at home.
How can you avoid it? Frequent handwashing, proper cooking temperatures, and prompt refrigeration, for starters. Just as important is to keep food safe from cross contamination. Always separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood, which may harbor "unfriendly" bacteria, from food that's ready to eat.
How well do you prevent food-borne crossovers? Do you ...
- Use one utensil to taste, another to prepare food.
- Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood on your bottom refrigerator shelf to make sure their juices don't drip onto other foods.
- Always use separate plates: one for raw meat, poultry, or seafood, another for cooked foods.
- Use two cutting boards: one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood; the other for bread, fruit, vegetables, and other foods that are ready to eat.
- Before using them again, wash knives and mixing spoons.
- Keep clean-hands, dishcloths, counters.