5 Healthy Habits to Prevent Salmonella, E. Coli at Home

Salmonella and E. coli outbreaks have been on the news lately. Even popular and big food chains and restaurants, where millions of people all over the world dine in, are also affected by them. 

But food chains are not the only places where you can get the virus. It is also very possible to get them from your own home-cooked food.

Below are five tips you can use every day to prevent salmonella and E. coli at home:

1.) Always wash your hands.

This is the number one rule that you have to keep in mind. You should go wash your hands properly before you start eating or cooking. Remember, you should not just wash it for the sake of washing it. You should wash in a proper way. Here is how you properly wash your hands, according to Healthy Latin Eating:

•  Wash your hands with the use of warm, running water. Do not just wash your fingers and palm. Wash up to your forearms.
•  Always use anti-bacterial soap.
•  Scrub in between your nails and fingers to get rid of the bacteria hiding in those.
•  Wash and scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
•  Dry your hands using a new paper towel.

2.) Make sure all the cooking utensils and the table you use for preparing are clean.

Aside from keeping your hands clean, you should also keep the environment of where you cook clean. Also, your cooking utensils should have been properly washed and dried as well. Some people focus too much in washing their hands and making sure the ingredients are all washed. In the end, they forget to check how clean the utensils and table they are using are.

3.) Maintain proper temperature for certain food items.

You should make sure to keep the temperature right for holding or storing food items. According to Clayton County Board of Health, the temperature should be set at 41 F degree or lower for cooling and cold holding, at 135 F degree or higher for hot holding and at 165 F degree for reheating leftovers.

4.) Use fresh ingredients. Wash skin of fruits and vegetables.

Straign-up-now.com stated that you should only buy and use fresh-looking fruits, vegetables and meat. Those fruits and vegetables, wash them before peeling, slicing or grating.

5.) Cook meat to proper temperatures.

One of the many reasons why salmonella, E. coli and other virus outbreaks happen is because the food is not cooked well. According to Eating Well, it is recommended to use calibrated instant-read thermometer to ensure that you will be cooking the meat to the right temperature level.

There are still a lot of ways that you can do to prevent salmonella and E. coli outbreak. The five food safety tips stated above are just the basic ones. You can even do your own list if you want to.