Fight BAC! Keep Family Food Safe

CLEAN: Wash hands, counters, and your table often and carefully.

Bacteria that make you sick are invisible. Yet they can spread everywhere in your kitchen, then to the food your family eats. Involve your child with food safety at home:

• Make proper hand washing a family habit: before and after handling food, and after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and handling pets.
• Wash kitchen utensils and surfaces with hot, soapy water. Let your child help.
• Wash cutting boards and sponges in hot, soapy water, each time they’re used.
• Clean with paper towels; toss them when you’re done. Wash cloth towels often in the hot cycle of your washing machine. Make cleaning fun with colorful towels.

SEPARATE: Keep raw and cooked food separate.

Harmful bacteria can spread from one food to others. Show your child how to separate raw meat, poultry, and fish from other foods.

• Keep raw meat, poultry, and fish wrapped, in sealed containers or plastic bags, so the juices won’t drip out.
• Wash anything (including your hands) that touches raw meat, poultry, or fish before using it with other food.
• Never put cooked food on the same plate or cutting board that held raw food – unless you wash it first.

CHILL: Refrigerate food right away.

Cold temperatures keep bacteria from growing and multiplying. Your child can help keep foods cold:

• Make sure the refrigerator door closes. Together check the temperature: refrigerator – below 40 degrees Fahrenheit; freezer – below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator or microwave oven, not on the counter.
• Chill foods that spoil. Freeze or refrigerate leftovers and other cooked foods within two hours of cooking.
• Put leftovers in small, shallow containers to cool faster.

COOK: Cook food to a safe, proper temperature.

To kill food-borne bacteria that can make you sick, cook food long enough and at a high enough temperature for that food. Show your child how carefully you check:

• Use a clean meat thermometer to check: • Cooked hamburgers: at least 160 degrees. • Whole, cooked chicken: 180 degrees.
• Cook eggs until yolks and whites are firm.
• Cook fish until it’s not shiny and it flakes easily with a fork.
• Reheat leftovers to at least 165 degrees.
• Wash your thermometer with hot, soapy water. Wiping with a towel isn’t enough.
• Be sure your microwaved food has no cold spots. Turning (by hand or turntable) and stirring while food cooks helps.

Nibbles for Health Nutrition Newsletter for Parents of Young Children, USDA, Food and Nutrition Service