[Islam-Online- Teens]

You have your recipe, your ingredients, your apron, and the whole deal. But before you start slicing and dicing, do you know how to prepare food safely? This means more than keeping your hands away from a whirling blade; it means knowing how to avoid spreading bacteria, knowing tips for safe shopping, and more.

Why Food Safety Matters
You might think that as long as food looks ok, it doesn't really matter how it's been prepared. But food that hasn't been prepared safely may contain bacteria like E. COLI. Unsafe food can also spread food borne illnesses like salmonellas (pronounced: sal-moan-ell-oh-sis) and campylobacter (pronounced: cam-pie-low-bak-ter) infection. (Even the names sound gross!) The good news is you can keep on top of bacteria and food borne illness by playing it safe when buying, preparing, and storing food.

Start at the Supermarket
You have your shopping list in one hand and that shopping cart with the bad wheel in the other. But where should you start and how do you know which foods are safe? Take a peek at these tips:

Make sure you put refrigerated foods in your cart last. For example, meat, fish, eggs, and milk should hit your cart after cereals, produce, and chips.
When buying packaged meat, poultry (chicken or turkey), or fish, check the expiration date on the label (the date may be printed on the front, side, or bottom, depending on the food). Don't buy a food if it has expired.
Don't buy fish or meat that has a strong or strange odor. Follow your nose and eyes, even if the expiration date is ok, pass on any fresh food that has a strange smell or that looks unusual.
Place meats in plastic bags so that any juices do not leak onto other food in your cart. Ground beef should be red, not any shade of brown.
Eyeball eggs before buying them. Make sure that none of the eggs are cracked and that they are all clean. Eggs should be grade A or AA. Don't slow down your cart for these bad-news foods:
- Fruit with broken skin (bacteria can enter through the skin and contaminate the fruit).
- Un-pasteurized ciders or juices (they can contain harmful bacteria)ط
- Pre-stuffed turkeys or chickens

In the Kitchen
After a trip to the market, the first things you should put away are those that belong in the refrigerator and freezer. Keep eggs in the original carton on a shelf in the fridge (most refrigerator doors don't keep eggs cold enough). Ready to cook but not sure how quickly things should be used, how long they should cook, or what should be washed? Here are some important guidelines:

Raw meat, poultry, or fish should be cooked or frozen within 2 days.
Thaw frozen meat, poultry, and fish in the refrigerator or microwave, never at room temperature.
Cook thawed meat, poultry, and fish immediately, don't let it hang around for hours.
Cook meat until the center is no longer pink and the juices run clear.
Cook crumbled ground beef or poultry until it's no longer pink.
Scrub all fruits and veggies with plain water to remove any leftover pesticides or dirt.
Remove the outer leaves of leafy greens, such as spinach or lettuce.
Don't let eggs hang out at room temperature for more than 2 hours. Make sure that you cook eggs thoroughly, no runny stuff.

Clean Up
Even though the kitchen might look clean, your hands, the countertops, and the utensils you use could still contain lots of bacteria that you can't even see. Yuck! To prevent the spread of bacteria while you're preparing food, check out the following:

Always wash your hands with hot water and soap before preparing any food.
Wash your hands after handling raw meat, poultry, fish, or egg products.
Keep raw meats and their juices away from other foods in the refrigerator and on countertops.
Never put cooked food on a dish that was holding raw meat, poultry, or fish.
If you use knives and other utensils on raw meat, poultry, or fish, you need to wash them before using them to cut or handle something else.
If you touch raw meat, poultry, or fish, wash your hands. Don't wipe them on a dishtowel; this can contaminate the towel with bacteria, which may be spread to someone else's hands.
Use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry, and fish, and another board for everything else.
When you're done preparing food, it's a good idea to wipe down the countertops with a commercial cleaning product. Don't forget to wash the cutting board in hot, soapy water and then disinfect it with a commercial cleaning product. You can also mix together 1-teaspoon chlorine bleach and 1 quart of water for a homemade cleaning solution and store the solution in a spray bottle. Of course, keep the solution and the ingredients out of the reach of your younger brothers and sisters!

Storing Leftovers Safely
Yum! Your dinner was a success and you're lucky to have some left over. Make sure you know the lowdown on leftovers:

Put leftovers in the fridge as soon as possible. If you leave leftovers out for too long at room temperature, bacteria can quickly multiply, turning your delightful dish into a food poisoning disaster.
Store leftovers in containers with lids that can be snapped tightly shut. Bowls or tins are ok for storing leftovers, but be sure to cover them tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil to keep the food from drying out.
Eat any leftovers within 3 to 5 days or freeze them. Don't freeze any dishes that contain uncooked fruit or veggies, hard-cooked eggs, or mayonnaise.
If you're freezing leftovers, freeze them in one or two-portion servings, so they'll be easy to take out of the freezer, pop in the microwave, and eat.
Store leftovers in plastic containers, plastic bags, or aluminum foil.
Don't fill bowls all the way to the top; when food is frozen, it expands. Leave a little extra space; about 1/2 inch should do it.
Eat frozen leftovers within 2 months.

Teens