Although food safety is hardly a riveting topic for a cocktail party, it may be one of the more relevant ones! Holiday time means sharing food and drinks, it’s just a part of being social! But it’s also a time when time stress takes the place of caution and yes, common sense. So let’s review 5 rules to keep in mind when it comes to keeping food safe.

1. Keep hot food hot and cold food cold. Although this advice smacks of carrying around a food thermometer, it can be as basic as bringing foods (and holding at a boil or simmer for a few minutes) to a safe serving temperature (165 degrees) and keeping cold foods at 40-45 degrees. Once out, keep hot food on a heating tray and cold foods over ice or plan for rule number 2!
2. Follow the two hour rule. The clock starts as soon as hot foods begin to cool and cold foods move closer to room temperature and it is cumulative. That means that food left on a buffet table has a short lifespan and should be discarded rather than taken home. And rather than adding to the dish or display, start fresh! When it comes to desserts, cookies and cake have a lifespan that is only affected by people sneezing and touching them but the pumpkin pie is a perishable!
3. Start CLEAN and keep it that way. Washing hands (with hot water and soap) when handling any food or serving utensils, sanitizing counter tops, cutting surfaces, utensils including knives, and rinsing fruits and vegetables under cold running water before you cut them for the display. Handwipes, hand sanitizer, kitchen counter wipes or sanitizer, separate cutting boards for meat, bread, and raw produce, and yes….gloves may seem like overkill but are important tools. The flurry of activity associated with entertaining has a way of blotting out the common sense part of our brain.
4. Use disposables. Unless you have an ample supply of plates, cups, glasses, serving trays, this is a basic rule for entertaining larger groups safely. Adding food to a tray that has already been used, casually rinsing glasses and cups is an invitation to a problem.
5. When in doubt, throw it out. Food that has exceeded the two hour rule, been mishandled, travelled miles without appropriate refrigeration or cooling or exceeded its refrigeration life may look and smell OK. BUT, the smell test is not an indicator!

Ok so you might want to have a food thermometer just to have some evidence rather than hunches. Check out http://www.foodsafety.gov/ for more help.

Have a question for Judy about this article or would like to learn more about available nutrition classes (with tastings)? Send her an e-mail at nutritionist@GiantEagle.com.

December 2009