Feature Articles
Shopping for Safe Food
Barbara Willenberg, Former Associate State Nutrition Specialist
Jo Britt-Rankin, State Nutrition Specialist
Make shopping for food your last stop before going home. Meat, eggs, and milk are "perishable" foods. Plan ahead to make sure you have enough refrigerator/freezer space for your perishable foods.
Perishable foods spoil if they are left out for more
than two hours. If it is over 90 degrees, or if
groceries sit in a hot car, food will begin to spoil
much sooner. Get perishable foods home and into your
refrigerator within one hour if it is very hot. If it
takes longer to get home, bring along an ice chest for
perishable foods. Pack ice, or fill a milk jug with
water and freeze it. Put either in the ice chest to keep
food cold. A cardboard box can be used if you don't have
an ice chest. Pack lots of newspaper around the food to
keep it cold and add ice.
Pick up cold and frozen foods last.
Cold and frozen foods should go into your grocery cart
last. Put raw meat and poultry in plastic bags so the
blood won't drip on other food.
Avoid buying torn packages, bulging or dented cans, and
dirty or cracked eggs. These foods could be spoiled.
Frozen foods should be frozen solid. Foods like corn,
peas and berries should feel loose in the package. If
they are one big lump, they may have been thawed and
refrozen. Their quality will be poor.
Refrigerated foods should feel cold to the touch. Buy
only milk and milk products that have been pasteurized.
It is unsafe to drink "raw" or unpasteurized milk.
Last Updated 10/25/2007
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