September is National Food Safety

Month, but take these precautions yearround to protect your kitchen and food from illness-causing bacteria, says Lauren Delgado.

Healthy kitchen habits should be practiced throughout the year — but National Food Safety month in September is a good time to remind ourselves of the methods to keep our kitchen and food free of illnesscausing bacteria.

Here are a few food-safety tips that I found on FoodSafety.gov.

While you prep

Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water before, during and after cooking — and before eating.

Thaw food in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave — not on the counter.

Keep cutlery, plates, cutting boards and other implements for raw meats and vegetables separate.

Marinate foods in the refrigerator — and don’t use any leftover marinade.

Before you finish cooking

145F is the minimum internal temperature whole cuts of beef, pork, veal, lamb, as well as fin fish should reach.

160F is the minimum internal temperature ground meats, such as beef and pork, should reach. 165F is the minimum internal temperature all poultry, includ-

ing ground chicken, turkey, leftovers and casseroles should reach.

For the leftovers

Set your refrigerator to 40F.

Perishable food needs to be refrigerated within two hours. If the food is sitting

out in 90-plus degrees, the dish can only be left out for 1 hour.

Don’t taste a food to see if it’s spoiled. Visit FoodSafety.gov for a full list of storage times.