Most often around this time of year N1, as responsible providers of the best quality meat Cape Town have to offer, cover the need for food safety and how best to prepare for the upcoming holidays next month, but this year it is more important than ever before! Considering the unprecedented experience of lockdown in 2020, most of us are looking forward to spending time with family and friends over the festive season, but we do need to be extra careful in terms of hygiene, social distancing, and food prep.

The four elements of food safety (clean, separate, cook and chill) still prevail, but The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (while reminding us that the risk of getting sick with COVID-19 from eating or handling food and food packages is considered very low), have updated their recommendations to add the following.

• After shopping, handling food packages, or before preparing or eating food, it is important to always wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry. 
• Regularly clean and disinfect kitchen counters using a commercially available disinfectant product or a DIY disinfecting solution with 5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) unscented liquid chlorine bleach to 1 gallon (3.7 litres) of water or 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart (1 litre) of water. Leave the solution on the surface for at least 1 minute. Before preparing food on the kitchen counter, rinse the disinfected surface with water. 
• When unpacking groceries, refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, and other perishables within 2 hours of purchasing. Never allow meat, poultry, or seafood that requires refrigeration to sit at room temperature for more than one hour if the air temperature is above 90°F (32°C).
• Do NOT wash produce with soap, bleach, sanitizer, alcohol, disinfectant or any other chemical. Gently rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under cold, running tap water. Scrub uncut firm produce (e.g., potatoes, cucumbers, melons) with a clean brush, even if you don’t plan to eat the peel. Note: Salt, pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, and lime juice have not been shown to be effective at removing germs on produce.

And underpinning all this, of course, are the four elements of food safety: 

• clean - as covered above, keep in mind it pertains to hands, surfaces and all kitchen equipment 
• separate - keep raw foods away from ready-to-eat foods, and use separate cutting boards for all raw foods
• cook - guidelines recommend that beef, pork, veal and lamb be cooked to an internal temperature of 63 °C with poultry slightly higher at 74 °C
• chill - the ideal temperature at which to keep your fridge is between 3 and 4 ° Celsius, the coldest part is just above your vegetable tray so this is the ideal place to keep meat, fish and poultry. And remember, when it comes to defrosting food, the safest place is in your refrigerator. 

Here’s to happy and healthy food prep, and if you need to stock up ahead of the festivities, be sure to give N1 a call. We offer the best in quality, service and delivery for all your Halaal and non-Halaal meat, Halaal fish, wholesale frozen vegetables and frozen pastries needs!