Food Safety – At Home 

A significant number of foodborne illnesses happen at home. There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself and your family when preparing food at home.
The Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education breaks food safety down into 4 easy-to-remember categories:

Clean

1. • Start out by washing your hands well. Use warm water and soap, and scrub your hands for at least 15 seconds, cleaning fingertips, under fingernails and between fingers. Rinse for another 15 seconds, letting water run down your fingertips. Dry your hands using a clean towel or paper towel, and turn off the tap using the towel.
   • Start with clean utensils and work surfaces. Wash utensils with warm water and soap and rinse well. You can also sanitize them using a diluted bleach solution, by mixing 2 tablespoons (30 ml.) of bleach in a gallon of water (4-litre ice cream pail). Let the solution have a 2 minute contact time, and don’t rinse after.
2. Separate – Don’t “cross-contaminate”.
   • This means, keep food that is ready to eat away from raw food. Make sure you store meats on the lowest shelf of your fridge or in the meat keeper, and ensure they are wrapped well. Keep other foods covered or wrapped in your fridge, so blood and juices from raw meat cannot contaminate them.
   • Make sure you clean and sanitize cutting boards after use, and if possible use separate cutting boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods. And again, wash your hands before you handle a different food item.
3. Cook – Cook foods well.
   • The general temperature for ensuring foods are cooked well is 165 degrees F (74 C), although this can vary with each food and with the time held at that temperature. Use a good meat thermometer. This is especially important for hamburger, which is done when the meat temperature reaches 160 F (71 C) and is held there for 10 seconds. Keep hot foods piping hot, at 140 F (60 C).
4. Chill – Chill foods promptly.
   • This includes perishable foods purchased at the store as well as leftovers. Perishable foods should not stay unrefrigerated for more than 2 hours (this includes the total time it lasts until it is all gone). Foods must be kept at 40 degrees F (4 C), and your freezer temperature should read 0 F (-18 C).

For more information, go to:

• HealthLinkBC - for health advice; call 8-1-1
• Health Canada's information
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency 

Some people are at higher risk of illness, and may contract more serious, long lasting symptoms.For more information, visit the US Department of Agriculture's sites at:

• be FoodSafe: The FSIS Magazine 
• Fact Sheets: At-Risk & Underserved Populations