Consumer Food Safety: Shopping, Storage, and Preparation Tips
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Consumers and food safety
- When buying food.
When you go grocery shopping, purchase refrigerated foods at the end of your shopping trip.
Check the use-by dates on the labels on packaged foods.
To avoid buying food that has gone bad, check that refrigerated foods are completely hard. Make sure canned goods do not have dents or bulging lids.
Go straight home so you can store all chilled and frozen foods as soon as possible to maintain the cold chain.
-When storing food.
Store refrigerated foods in the refrigerator at a maximum temperature of 4°C and store frozen foods in the freezer at a temperature of -18°C or lower.
Do not refreeze any foods that have already been frozen and thawed.
Store raw and cooked foods separately to avoid cross-contamination.
-When preparing food.
Wash your hands with soap and water before handling food.
Do not cough or sneeze over food. Do not handle food if you have a contagious illness.
Do not use the same utensils for raw and cooked foods.
Peel or wash fruit to remove any traces of pesticides.
Cook meat and fish thoroughly to avoid food-borne illnesses.
Eat food immediately after cooking it. Do not eat it if it has been left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.
Information for the consumer: food labels
The brand name and the product name.
Identification of the manufacturer, where the name of the manufacturer, packer, or seller is displayed.
The batch number, is a set of units of an item that were produced, manufactured, or packaged under nearly identical circumstances.
The volume or net weight of the product.
The list of ingredients and additives the food contains.
The best before or use-by date, used on highly perishable produce, indicates the day and month the food must be consumed by, semi-perishable and non-perishable foods are marked with a best-before date, these foods are guaranteed to be at their best until this date as long as they have been stored according to the instructions on the label.
Any special storage conditions and, if necessary, instructions for use or cooking.