Food Safety at Home

Food Safety at Home

We all expect our shops to sell us food that is safe, but how can we be sure that the food we buy and take home is safe? There are checks that we can make when buying food such as buying from reputable suppliers, checking the food before buying it, taking it straight home and storing food, especially high-risk foods, correctly at home.

Click the links to the left to see our tips for buying food and storing food at home.

What are high risk foods?

These are the foods that food poisoning bacteria prefer to grow on. These are generally perishable foods with a short shelf life.

Dairy Products - Milk, cream, cheese (eg. soft cheeses or those ripened by mould or bacteria (eg stilton), dairy based desserts like fromage frais, mousses, creme caramels or products containing cream.

Cooked Products - Foods containing eggs, meat, fish, dairy products, cereals (including rice), pulses and vegetables or sandwiches that contain these ingredients.

Sliced/cured meats like ham and smoked fish.

Prepared ready-to-eat foods - Such as prepared vegetables, vegetable salads like coleslaw or products containing mayonnaise.

It is important that high-risk foods are stored correctly to limit the growth of bacteria and the likelihood that food poisoning will occur. High risk foods should be kept under temperature controlled conditions, as indicated on the Manufacturers label.

Fridges

Most of us will keep a variety of foods in our fridge. Some items, such as high-risk foods, need to be refrigerated but others, such as drinks, are chilled because we prefer them cold.

High-risk foods should be kept in the coldest part of the fridge at a temperature between 0ºC and 5ºC. Cooked foods, that you want to save for later, should be cooled as quickly as possible, within 90 minutes, before placing them in the fridge. This is because some bacteria can survive the cooking process and will continue to grow in the food. Putting hot or warm food in a fridge will raise the internal fridge temperature, so ensure that food cool before it is put in your fridge.

All foods should be wrapped or covered and cooked food should always be stored on shelves above raw food, and raw meat should be kept at the bottom of your refrigerator below all ready to eat food. This is so raw food cannot touch or drip onto cooked or ready to eat foods and contaminate them.

Fridges should not be overstocked as this will prevent cold air from circulating properly, so if your fridge is too full ensure that high-risk foods are kept in the fridge but remove low risk items that you might prefer to have chilled but there will be no risk of keeping them in cupboards or shelves. Further guidance on keeping food cool and safe – will be link to Foodsense leaflet (not available on their website so will scan and forward to you in the near future)

Frozen Foods

Many chilled high-risk foods are suitable for home freezing, but some are not. Always follow the manufacturers instructions on the label.

Some frozen food products and ready-made meals can be cooked from frozen, but most raw meat should be thoroughly defrosted before cooking. Always follow the manufacturers instructions on the label.

Frozen foods should not be left out on the worktop overnight to defrost. They should be placed at the bottom of your fridge, kept wrapped or covered and not put near any ready to eat foods. This will take more time to for the food to defrost, so plan ahead and leave sufficient time for your frozen food to defrost properly before cooking. Meat and poultry are fully defrosted when the meat/body is pliable and for poultry, there are no ice crystals on or in the body cavity.

Catering from Home

Occasionally you may cater from home for a large number of people, such as a birthday, wedding or party. The event may be at your home, or you may need to transport the food to where it will be eaten. You will need to ensure that at all stages the food is kept safe and your food will not make the guests ill.

If you intend to run a food business from your home you will need to meet the full requirements of Food Safety and Health and Safety at Work law. Information about these topics can be found in the Business Section of this website. 

Further guidance on:

• How to store Food Safely
• Avoiding Cross Contamination
• Hand washing
• Food Safety and Your Baby
• Barbecue Safety

Further guidance on:

• Additives
• BSE
• Food and Weight
• Food Intolerance
• Food Related Conditions
• Genetically Modified Foods Keeping Food Safe Labelling Organic Foods
• Pesticides
• Shopping
• Vitamins and Minerals
• Your daily diet

can be found on the Food Standards Agency Website on www.food.gov.uk