By Evan Ferguson, Professor of Food and Nutrition at Cape Hatteras High School, ServSafe Instructor
Health and wellness are currently at the forefront of all thoughts. Eating is no exception. Do I have enough food Can I get food? Is my food safe? These questions seem to linger and create fear and unfortunately sometimes hostility.
As a teacher of nutrition and nutrition, food security and hygiene are very important to me. In my high school classes I emphasize the importance of good personal hygiene and good food management. We examine the times and temperatures, pathogens, and logs, and all of these, so that these skills are integrated into the culture of the student's kitchen.
With a new pathogen on the world stage, it's time to learn.
How can we protect our food from Covid-19?
Personal hygiene comes first.
Wash your hands The whole process should take 20 seconds. Use the warmest water you can take (100 degrees) and scrub, scrub, scrub for at least 10-15 seconds. Use a disposable paper towel or hand dryer to dry your hands. Using a "community wipe" can lead pathogens back to what you just cleaned.
Then don't touch your face anymore. It's a big no, not in the kitchen.
Did you forget your cell phone?
When was the last time you cleaned that up? Disgusting! For safety reasons, leave your cell phone outside the kitchen. If you need it for a prescription, disinfect your phone with a cleaning cloth before washing your hands.
What about fresh fruits and vegetables?
In an ideal world, we would all cultivate ours. Local products make it easier to guess how the article went from A to Z and who handled it. However, since most of us are likely to buy fresh products, you can clean them with a simple vegetable wash (recipe below). This soaking should remove most pathogens, as well as any pesticides or other chemicals that can stick to your healthy goodies. As an extra precaution, you can lightly fry, roast, or grill vegetables. I added a quick and healthy, faded green recipe below!
So how about preparing food for others or eating food prepared by someone else?
As long as the cook is in good health and uses good personal hygiene and food safety techniques, everything is fine. However, if you're very careful like me, I would recommend switching from ready-to-eat foods like salads and cold sandwiches to hot meals. Hot and eaten foods can be transferred to a separate plate and then heated to 165 degrees to kill harmful bacteria and other pathogens.
The North Carolina State Cooperative Extension has assembled COVID-19 resources that deal directly with food security. I recommend consulting this beautiful source. Following solid and well-founded protocols will enable us to overcome this time with more confidence and with the well-being of our community in mind. Stay healthy, everyone!
https://foodsafety.ces.ncsu.edu/covid-19-resources/
DIY veggie wash
Ingredients:
1 cup of vinegar
4 cups of cold water
Addresses:
Combine vinegar and water in a large bowl or clean sink. Soak the vegetables in the solution for at least 5 minutes to an hour. Rinse with cold water, clean and pat dry.
Note: Make a large amount of vegetarian laundry, keeping the ratio 1: 4 of 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water. There are MANY homemade recipes for fruit and vegetable detergents on the Internet. So browse and find your favorite!
Greens easy to fade
Ingredients:
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 chopped or thinly sliced garlic cloves
4 cups of fresh green vegetables, washed and dried, such as chard, spinach or kale.
Lemon wedges
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Addresses:
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium to high heat. Add green vegetables and stir constantly. As soon as the green vegetables start to wither, add the garlic. Continue frying until the garlic smells. Season with salt, pepper and paprika flakes. Stir for the last time and remove from the heat. Sprinkle with ¼ to ½ fresh lemon and serve with additional lemon wedges.
This special guest post is part of our regular island kitchen column by Lynne Foster, which co-organized this article.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire