Health & Wellbeing

Food safety with Dr. Jad Choucair

Food safety is making headlines as more and more people are becoming aware of what they are eating. After the food has reached your home, are there any particular food safety procedures that you have to follow? Dr. Jad Choucair gives us the basics on protecting ourselves and our loved ones

Some food safety measures should be applied on a regular basis in the home. They are simple and straight forward, and will ensure personal safety.

Storing food

Whether putting food in the refrigerator, the freezer, or the cupboard, you have plenty of opportunities to prevent foodborne illnesses. For eggs still in the shell, you have 3-5 weeks to consume them. After cracking them open, the life of the raw egg is shortened to 4 days at the most.

Storage times for the refrigerator

These short but safe time limits for home-refrigerated foods will keep them from spoiling or becoming dangerous to eat.

Refrigerated food and power outages: when to save and when to throw out

Is food in the refrigerator safe during a power outage? It should be safe as long as power is off for no more than 4 hours. Keep the door closed as much as possible. Discard any perishable foods (such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers) that have been above 4°C for over 2 hours.

Almost all foods present a health risk once you have passed the 4 hours cut-off.

A common mistake: never taste food to determine its safety!

You can’t rely on appearance or odor to determine whether food is safe to consume.