A Sunshine Coast clinical dietician has addressed some old wives’ tales from the kitchen and urged locals to follow safe food practices during the festive season, after hundreds of people suffered food poisoning in the region last summer.
An-Yang Chen was prompted to remind residents to be safe in the kitchen after 329 people presented to local emergency departments due to food poisoning from November 2021 to February 2022.
“A lot of people are going to have big feasts with family around and they’re going to be preparing a lot of food, often too much to finish in one sitting,” he said.
“It’s really important to make sure you’re managing leftovers safely so that when you are have them throughout the rest of week you are not at risk of food poisoning.
“There’s a really simple two and four-hour rule to follow.
“Any food that is sitting out for more than two hours has to be consumed on that day/in that meal period, otherwise it has to be chucked out.
“Anything that has been sitting out for more than four hours should not be consumed.”
Mr Chen said anything left out for less than two hours could be put back into the fridge or freezer and then later reheated and consumed safely.
“It’s good for two or three days in the fridge and for up to a month in the freezer,” he said.
Mr Chen said “temperature is key to preparation and storage”.
“When you leave hot food sitting out you want it to be sitting out at 60 degrees or above … you can keep it in something that holds the temperature like a thick cast iron pot,” he said.
“If it’s a cold item it’s best to keep it five degrees or lower for that two to four-hour period … you can use ice packs, double-layered al-foil trays with ice in the middle.
“But to be really safe, get a thermometer and stick it in at the two-hour mark.”
Mr Chen put some old wives’ tales to bed when it came to food storage.
“When you’re trying to cool your food you want it to cool as quickly as possible,” he said.
“A lot of people think you are best to let your hot food come to room temperature before you pop it into the fridge.
“But that is not the case – the quicker you can get it to below five degrees the safer it is going to be.
“Reheating food, you want to make sure it’s at least steaming, so you are able to kill off any pathogens that might be in the meals.”
He also quashed another long-held kitchen habit.
“A lot of people like to do turkeys and roast chickens, and I know there is a common practice of washing the poultry in the kitchen sink because the theory is to wash away any bacteria that might be on there,” he said.
“That is highly advised against because it doesn’t rinse off enough bacteria to matter and all you’re really doing is splashing all that bacteria, all that raw poultry juice, over your kitchen sink and counter.
“The process of cooking is more than efficient to kill off pathogens.”
Mr Chen also said it was important for people to curb their enthusiasm for oversized meals and unhealthy food after the festive season.
“Christmas is a time for celebrations, with good company, good food and good times, but the important thing is not to let that indulgence run for weeks on end,” he said.
“You should get back to normal routine and normal eating and making sure you’re minimising processed food.”
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