Kitchen Hygiene: Refrigeration

Frozen Food
Most bugs, but not all, become inactive when frozen. Some even die. But what about the spores they produce? Okay. Here’s what happens.

You take food out of the freezer to thaw and leave it at room temperature. As soon as the outside of that food reaches the right temperature, the spores some bugs produce hatch out and the bugs themselves wake up and start to divide.

How long does it take to thaw the food out? Two hours or more? You’re in trouble! Which is why you should always plan ahead and thaw food in the fridge, or else use the microwave.

Yes, I know, a chicken will take 48 hours or more in the fridge. But at least it will be safe to eat at the end of that time because you will have denied the bugs one of the four things they need to reproduce – warmth.

But let’s suppose, half-way through thawing time, you change your mind. You’d prefer an omelet. Can you re-freeze the partially thawed meat?

Absolutely NOT. No! Under no circumstances!

Can you see why?

If the food was thawed outside the fridge you now have an increase in the size of the bug colony. When you next thaw out that food, that’s the number they’re going to start from – they’re already halfway dangerous!

But what about if the food is thawed inside the fridge?

The same thing applies. Some bugs can reproduce at lower temperatures. One of these is Listeria monocytogenes, which causes symptoms ranging from mild flu-like attacks to meningitis and blood poisoning. It is also a threat to pregnant women and the unborn child. How common is it?

It’s found in meat, poultry, raw vegetables, the soil, raw milk, salads, cheese (especially the soft blue varieties) and the gut of humans and animals. So why haven’t I told you about this before?

Because I wanted to use it to impress on you the importance of – and the reasons behind – the no re-freeze rule.

The Refrigerator
Every fridge has a bottom shelf, and this is where the raw meat and fish should go; on a plate and covered in plastic wrap.

Why? So it can’t drip on anything else and contaminate it. And that shelf should be cleaned at least twice a week and preferably after each time that raw food has been standing on it, whether it was on a plate or not.

Remember we are talking about microscopic particles here. Minute drops of moisture so small that you can’t even see them, but which your hands have transferred to the outside of the plate you are storing the food on and any other surface you happened to have touched.

You won’t see them fall into the butter/cream/chocolate cake or what have you. You won’t see any change in those items if they do. But you now have high risk ingredients in your kitchen.

Save yourself the trouble and always use the bottom shelf for raw meat – and nothing else.

Cooked food should go on the next shelf and other items on the shelves above that. Eggs, by the way, are safest kept in the fridge in the box they come in or some other container.

Make sure that everything is covered and of course clean up any spills immediately. There are a couple of other things to remember.

One is to never reheat food more than once. It’s better by far to remove the quantity you need for the meal and leave the rest in the fridge. Any reheated leftovers should be thrown out. The other is to allow food to cool before putting it in the fridge.

The reason for that is pretty straightforward. Hot food raises the temperature of the food next to it, activating Salmonella and his friends. It may be some time before the temperature falls sufficiently to get them back under control. Instant contamination.