With the USDA ground beef recall fresh on our minds, we thought it might be smart to brush up on our own food handling practices. Do you know how long you can leave that potato salad on your buffet before it needs to go back in the fridge? How about the right way to thaw frozen meats?
If you're not so sure, no worries: we're doing a Food Safety 101 course the rest of this week to keep you and your guests happy and healthy.
First up: how long can you leave food at room temperature?
Leaving Food at Room Temperature: Four Hours
Four hours is a good rule of thumb for most buffet foods. After four hours, the potential for you to get sick from eating food left at room temperature increases drastically. If you're throwing a party and afraid you might forget, try setting a timer to remind yourself when four hours is up.
Ice cream and other frozen foods are of course another story - try putting those back in a little sooner!
And we cannot dispense medical advice - take these as rules of thumb and read up on food safety along with us.
More Food Safety 101
• How to Defrost Frozen Meat
This is by Emma, who is up for one of our new writer positions. Welcome Emma!
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Can't wait to hear about leftovers. I was just wondering this as I made a smoked salmon dip this weekend, but wasn't sure how long I could continue to eat it before risking getting ill!
I always defrost frozen meat in a bath of COLD water for a couple of hours. It seems to defrost faster and if its not totally thawed when I need it, I just put it under some running cold water for couple of minutes.
I had to take a 3-day food service safety and sanitation course as part of my culinary degree--I was a little paranoid about eating anything I didn't make myself for a feel weeks afterward!
You can defrost meat in cold water, but it shouldn't be standing water--if you can't keep it moving, you should consider changing it every 30 minutes to ensure the water stays cold.
Last I heard, 2 hours were the official guidelines.
This topic is of great concern, especially in island countries where refrigeration or lack thereof can be an issue with constant loss of electricity during the summer months. Also, where many people take food to the beaches for hours on end. We expect to do a feature on this topic in the coming months at http://bahamasfoodnetwork.com