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Are You Making These Food Safety Mistakes?

By Sara Butler

Foodborne illness strikes 48 million people in the United States each year. You can't always avoid the reasons you may get sick from the food you eat -- no one can see the future. But what you can do is take steps when you cook to ensure you're healthy to the best of your ability. That means you need to learn how to handle food properly. Here are a few of the most common food safety mistakes to keep an eye out for so you don't fall victim to foodborne illness.

Putting Hot Leftovers in the Refrigerator

In order to do its job to keep bacteria from growing in your food and making you sick, your refrigerator needs to be at a certain temperature. When you put leftovers in the fridge that are still hot, that changes the entire environment, making it go up. Now, you may only see an increase of a few degrees, but that's enough of a change to make things unsafe.

Instead of putting in hot leftovers, cool your food for about an hour on the countertop first. It should be only warm to the touch before you nestle it away to enjoy later.

Washing Your Chicken

You don't need to worry about making sure your chicken has a spa day before preparing it -- you don't need to rinse it. Rinsing meat doesn't accomplish anything aside from potentially contaminating your sink and the area around it.

All you really need to do to prepare chicken is pat it dry with a paper towel (that you immediately throw away) and season it, then cook away! And don't forget to wash your hands in warm, soapy water after handling it, either.

Improper Produce Prepping

Not all produce needs to be washed. Pre-washed produce is likely cleaner than anything in your kitchen, so rinsing it again only exposes it to bacteria that can make you sick. You should always make sure to rinse produce that hasn't been cleaned yet -- especially root vegetables.

Inappropriate Egg Cracking

When you're cracking eggs, how often do you use the edge of the bowl you're cracking the into? If you said every time, then you're doing it wrong.

When you crack eggs on the edge of a bowl, you risk getting a piece of shell into the bowl. That tiny piece of the shell can effectively contaminate everything else. You're better off using your counter to crack the eggs, then cracking them into a smaller, separate bowl.

And don't forget to sanitize the counter area after you're done.

The way you handle food has a huge impact on your health, so learn how to do it the right way to stay healthy.

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Shiloh, Ill.

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