We all want our food to be safe. But we may be mishandling food - which can lead to food poisoning - without realising it.
Food safety starts from the time you buy your food, by making sure
you do not select expired food or buy from vendors who handle food and
money with the same hand, for instance.
When you reach home, it is about storing the food properly, followed by preparing and cooking it well.
"Everyone eats and handles food at some point or another -
producers, manufacturers, distributors, food handlers and consumers,"
said Dr Paul Chiew, group director of the laboratories group at the
Agri-food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).
"The assurance of food safety is a shared responsibility that
requires the combined efforts of the government, food industry and
consumers."
Mishandling of food, especially during preparation, is one of the
leading causes of food-borne illnesses, commonly known as food
poisoning, he said.
Food poisoning often occurs when harmful bacteria on a food item is
spread to another food item through cross-contamination, he said.
Here, food-safety experts address the common mistakes people make.
1. WASHING RAW MEAT CARELESSLY
If you do an online search, you will discover that the United States
and British government bodies advise consumers to wash fruit and
vegetables, but not meat and eggs.
Indeed, raw meat and seafood may contain bacteria, such as
salmonella and campylobacter, which can cause food-borne illnesses if
they are not handled properly, said Dr Chiew.
"Washing raw chicken, for example, can spread bacteria onto hands,
work surfaces, clothing and kitchen equipment, thereby contaminating
other food items."
But the crux of the issue lies in how carefully you wash raw meat,
rather than if you can or cannot wash it, said Mr Rishi Ram, senior
chef instructor at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy.
Whether raw meat needs to be washed depends on where you bought it from, he said.
If the meat came properly sealed and from a processing plant, it
would have already been washed and you do not need to wash it again,
said Mr Ram.
"However, if the meat came from a wet market or has been re-packed
at a supermarket into shrink wrap and styrofoam packaging, you should
wash it as it may have come into contact with contaminated chopping
boards and packaging materials," he said.
Bacteria tends to grow in the blood and juices surrounding the meat.
Rinsing the blood and juices away reduces the risk of the bacteria
spreading, he said.
"The next issue is that you should wash the meat, especially
poultry, very carefully such that the water used to wash the meat is
not splashed onto surrounding utensils, kitchen countertops and even
onto your own clothes," he said. "If you are not careful, the splashing
of these droplets can spread the bacteria."
2. THE THREE-SECOND RULE
This age-old rule states that if you pick up a piece of food from
the floor within three seconds of it dropping and give it a quick blow,
it will be safe to eat.
Sometimes, you will hear someone call it the two-second or five-second rule, which mean the same thing within those time limits.
These rules are myths.
"Even if the contact time is shorter than three seconds, the surface
of the food item would have been contaminated, for example, by
microbes," said Dr Chiew.
