Clean: Wash Hands and Surfaces Often
- Wash hands with warm water and soap before and after touching food and after using the bathroom
- Wash your hands after playing with pets
- Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food and before going on to the next food
- Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water
- Keep books, backpacks or shopping bags off the kitchen table or counters where food is prepared or served
Separate: Don’t Cross Contaminate
- Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags and in the refrigerator
- Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood
- Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked to a safe internal temperature
- Never place cooked food on an unwashed plate that held raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs
Cook: Cook to Proper Temperature
- Beef roasts and steak: minimum 145 degrees
- Pork: minimum of 145 degrees
- Poultry: minimum 165 degrees
- Ground meat: 160 degrees
- Cook eggs until the yolks and white are firm, not runny
- Casseroles containing eggs: 160 degrees
- Fish: 145 degrees
- Leftovers: 165 degrees
Chill: Refrigerate Promptly
- Refrigerator temperature: 40 degrees or below
- Freezer temperature: 0 degrees or below
- Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at room temperature more than two hours
- Never defrost food at room temperature
- Defrost foods in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave
- Always marinate food in the refrigerator