Chapter 6: Tips for Food Preparation and Cooking 95
✓ Packaged produce labeled ready to eat, prewashed, or triple washed can
be used without further washing.
✓ Keep produce separate from all raw meats in your shopping cart,
grocery bags, refrigerator, and when prepping food.
- Throw away any produce that will not be cooked if it has touched
raw meat or eggs. - After preparing raw meats, clean your cutting board and knives
with hot water and soap before and after preparing fresh fruits and
vegetables. - Store raw meat below ready-to-eat produce and other foods in the
refrigerator so it can’t leak onto them.
✓ Refrigerate all cut, peeled, or cooked produce within two hours.
Harmful bacteria may grow on produce and increase the risk of
foodborne illness.
Cooking foods to the proper temperature
Raw meats and eggs need to be handled with extreme care to keep the risk
of foodborne illness low. Thorough cooking kills harmful bacteria. If you eat
meat, poultry, fish, seafood, or eggs that are raw or only partially cooked,
you may be exposing yourself to bacteria that can make you ill. This is
particularly important for children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those
whose immune systems are compromised. Check out the following sections
for specific info on safely cooking meats.Salmonella, a bacteria that causes food poisoning, can grow inside fresh,
unbroken eggs and raw poultry. Be sure to cook eggs until the yolk and white
are firm, not runny. Scramble eggs to a firm texture. Avoid recipes in which eggs
remain raw or only partially cooked (for example, mousse, egg drinks, Caesar
dressing, and more). Pasteurized eggs or egg substitute can be used instead.Use a meat thermometer to ensure that meat, poultry, and fish are cooked to
the appropriate temperature. Insert the sterile metal tip into the center and/or
the thickest part off the food.Red meat
Table 6-1 shows the correct cooking temps for red meat, depending on the
desired doneness.