How to avoid food poisoning?

Christmas and New Year’s Eve are often the occasion for (too?) Abundant meals. Therefore, the leftovers accumulate. Without throwing everything away after Christmas Eve, take some precautions to keep these good things. This will reduce the risk of food poisoning.

Throw the dishes away if in doubt

Whether it’s cooked or raw, take care of leftovers right after your meal. Throw away any cooked food left over two hours at room temperature. If you are not sure how much time has passed, do not trust your nose, your eyes nor your taste buds: throw it away! Neither the appearance, nor the taste, nor the smell of a food is sufficient to judge whether or not it is contaminated. So don’t take any chances.

Then wash your hands thoroughly with warm water and soap.

Keep each food separate in clean, airtight boxes or food bags. This will prevent cross contamination. Write the date on the containers to identify each leftover. This will ensure that you do not keep them for too long.

Refrigerator or freezer?

Refrigerate any foods you want to keep. If you don’t plan to consume them within two or three days, go for the freezer bin. The only exception: never refreeze previously frozen food. These must be thrown away.

Whether in the fridge where the freezer, place your leftovers in shallow containers. If they are very hot, wait for them to cool before putting the lid on. But not too long! As soon as they stop emitting steam, close them and put them away. Preferably, do not overload your fridge so that theair circulates better there. The temperature will thus be correctly maintained.

Clean and disinfect

When you have everything put away, carefully clean the utensils, dishes and worktops. If you do not have dishwasher, use liquid washing up. For the rest of the kitchen, opt for a household disinfectant. You will destroy the bacteria responsible for food infections, including salmonellosis and botulism.

Finally, when you want to finish the leftovers, the next day or two, take care to reheat them as soon as possible. Fresh out of the fridge, in the microwave or in a pan, reheat all cooked foods. Same thing several weeks later, for the food that you will have frozen.