Food safety

By the word, ‘safe food’ we mean that food is free of pathogens that is bacteria, viruses and parasites, which can cause illness in humans. Food that is safe to eat is very important for women.

In pregnancy, the women’s levels of immunity are lower than usual; hence they are at more risk of getting diseases carried by food. Moreover, illness can also be worse than it would normally have been. Simple rules on food safety can help to prevent most of the food borne illness, that is the rule of 4C’s clean, cook, cover, chill.

Various food safety guidelines are as follows:

Food often carries small number of germs. The food safety guidelines, reduces the risk of pathogens growing on food, or spreading from one type of food to another.

While buying the food, people should always check the ‘use by’ or ‘best before date’- it is past the date, then that food should not be purchased. People should check for damaged packing. They should not buy dented tins, leaking cartons or bottles, ripped boxes seals, for example of yoghurt.

Women should also avoid swollen chilled food packages, and swollen cans. Women should avoid products that are mouldy strangely coloured or infested with insects. They should avoid chilled products that are not cold to the touch.

Women should avoid frozen products that are not frozen solid. Those types of hot foods should be avoided that are not steaming hot, for example, cooked chickens. When at the supermarket, women should make sure that the raw meat and chicken is packed in a separate bag from other foods to stop raw meat juices from dripping onto other foods.

She should always take food straight home, especially chilled and frozen foods. Never, the food should be left in a hot car. While reaching at home, food should be immediately transferred into the fridge or freezer. This is for chilled and frozen foods.

One of the most important things a women can do to prevent illness from pathogens on food is to have clean hands. Drying is just as important as washing. Hands should be washed thoroughly, using plenty of soap, for at least 20 seconds.

Rinse them well, and then dry them completely for 20 seconds on a clean dry hand towel or two paper towels. Women should wash and dry her hands before and after preparing food. After handling raw meat and chicken, after going to the toilet after touching pets or farm animals, after gardening and after handling rubbish

In order to avoid contaminating food with pathogens, women should always use clean utensils when preparing foods. She should use hot soapy water to wash dishes and let dishes airy dry rather than drying with a tea towel.

She should use separate chopping boards and utensils when preparing raw foods, which requires cooking. Women should never put the cooked food back onto the same plate that contains the raw food. Instead she should always use a clean plate.

She should avoid coughing or sneezing over food. Pets should not be allowed near food or bench tops. Women should cover the food to protect it from flies and other insects. Separate paper towels and disinfectant should be used to wipe up messy spills like raw meat or chicken juices from the bench or floor.