Kitchen hygiene and leftovers

3 min read

Good habits at home lower your risk more than avoiding any single food. Wash your hands for 20 seconds before cooking and after touching raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs. Keep raw and cooked food apart, with separate boards and knives.

Cook to a safe temperature: 74 °C (165 °F) for poultry and leftovers, 71 °C (160 °F) for minced meat, and 63 °C (145 °F) for fish and whole cuts of meat. If you do not have a thermometer, cook until there is no pink and juices run clear.

Keep your fridge at 4 °C (40 °F) or colder. Put leftovers in the fridge within two hours, eat them within two days, and reheat until steaming hot. Cool rice quickly and do not keep it warm for hours.

Wash fruit and vegetables, even the ones you will peel. Do not wash raw chicken, as it splashes bacteria around the sink. Wash the hands and surfaces that touched it instead.