Food Safety Tips

September is food safety month. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs offers these tips for practicing good food safety:

- Repeatedly wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. Clean any surfaces that your food will come in contact with; like cutting boards, counter tops and preparation utensils. Use hot soapy water on any surface areas before working with food.

- Separate different food products. Store fresh produce separately from raw meat, raw poultry or raw seafood. Do not use the same cutting board or utensils when handling raw food and fresh produce.

- Cook foods to the proper temperatures. Roasts and steaks 145 degrees. Poultry 165 degrees. Ground meat 160 degrees. Leftovers and casseroles 165 degrees. If making jerky in a food dehydrator, before dehydrating the meat, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends heating meat or poultry to the proper temperatures.

- Bacteria on food spreads fastest when ambient temperatures are above 40 degrees. Keep the refrigerator at 40 degrees or lower and promptly put leftovers in the fridge.