HEALTH MATTERS
WITH the summer heating up and barbeque season in full flow, it is important that we prioritise our food and drink safety.
Although you may not have had food poisoning before, it is important that you take preventative steps so that you never get it: this includes killing the bacteria. Bacteria grows between eight and 60C, so it is imperative that food is stored outside of these temperatures.
To stay on the safe side, it is recommended that once food is cooked it stays at 70C for two minutes, to make sure all bacteria are killed.
Some common symptoms of food poisoning include nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.
There are three steps you can take to reduce the effects of food poisoning if you do happen to catch it:
1. Rehydrate – drink plenty of fluids and even rehydration powders.
2. Medical Assistance – if you are concerned about someone, call 111 or your GP practice.
3. Report it – if your food was prepared outside the home, find the information by visiting cheshireeast.gov.uk and searching ‘food poisoning’.
During the summer it is important to relax and enjoy yourself, but it is also important that you’re drink aware.
You should not regularly exceed 14 units of alcohol per week.
For more information on this, please visit drinkaware.co.uk.
Drinking too much alcohol can cause serious problems such as: 1. Alcohol poisoning. 2. High blood pressure.
3. Damaged digestive system.
4. Obesity. To learn more about the risks of drinking too much, visit drinkaware. co.uk and search ‘health effects of alcohol’.
It’s not all doom and gloom as it’s quite possible to enjoy the odd tipple without damaging our health.
For top tips on sensible drinking, visit drinkaware. co.uk and search ‘staying safe while drinking’. NOW the dust has settled following the local elections, it is clear that the new Labour-led administration at Cheshire East has not provided local residents with any indication on how it intends on fulfilling its manifesto promises.
At the first full council meeting in May, all parties backed action on climate change, but the administration then delayed bringing the environment strategy to cabinet.
A commitment was also made at that meeting, with cross-party support, to work towards moving to a committee system.
However, the new leadership has only just set up a sub-group to investigate this process, whilst the constitution committee which will be tasked with the investigation has been delayed and has only just met.
At the same time Labour has increased its cabinet members from eight to ten, costing local taxpayers more money.
Deputy cabinet members are still set to be announced. This is not what the electorate voted for.
The new administration can only rest on previous Conservative policies for so long and the Conservative group will be working hard to hold it to account.
The Labour party does not have a clear mandate from our local residents, as the Conservatives still won nine more seats than them at the local elections.
If by May 2020 the Labour party fail to deliver the committee system, it will be interesting to see if the Independents continue to back them.
Let us see what the new coalition is really made of because the electorate deserve to know.