The best way to handle food leftovers • Here’s what works – and what you should watch out for
Many people want to reduce their food waste – both for ethical and financial reasons. Then it is important to know how different foods should be handled – otherwise, in the worst case, things can go really bad.
– Pretty much everything can be eaten, but you have to have a bit of control and knowledge, says the professor of food hygiene, Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham.
Food waste amounts to roughly 30 kilos of food per person per year, according to the Swedish Food Agency. A tip to reduce wastage is not to stare blindly at the best before date, as it only guarantees that the food will have the same properties as when it was freshly prepared. But the professor of food hygiene also comes up with a long list of other tips – some of which really surprise!
Heating works – but not freezing
– In all food, regardless of whether it is raw or cooked, there are various microorganisms, which are constantly competing for the food with us and want to try to eat it before we eat it. And when they eat the food, it will taste rotten and sour. Some of them are dangerous and cause food poisoning. Some of them also create toxins in food, says Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham.
The professor raises an extra finger of warning regarding the listeria bacteria, which, unlike most other bacteria, grows quite well in the fridge. In addition, it is then difficult to notice if the food is bad. But she adds:
– But all bacteria die after a couple of minutes at 70 degrees. So you don’t have to throw away the expensive salmon even if the date has passed.
However, freezing does not work in the same way.
– Freezing is a very good preservative, you can keep food in the freezer for a very long time without it going bad. It is also a good preservative for the bacteria. The bacteria that are in the food when you freeze it – it is also in the food when you thaw it. So it’s not a good way to get rid of the bacteria, no.
How to deal with moldy cheese
And if there is some mold on the cheese, can you eat the rest if the mold is cut away?
– If it is a hard cheese, cut off the mold and 2-3 centimeters of the “healthy” part of the cheese. Then you can eat it! If it’s a cream cheese with a lot of water in it – then you should throw it away, says Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham.
Dormant bacteria are brought to life in the rice
Somewhat surprisingly, the professor also talks about the importance of handling cooked rice in the right way:
– There are live spores in the cooked ready-to-eat rice. And when the temperature starts to drop below 60 degrees, then the dormant bacteria inside this spore wakes up and starts multiplying. This bacteria can cause you to have diarrhea and vomiting in the worst case.
How to best handle the rice is answered in the clip.