Food temperatures: don’t be the weak link

Food temperatures: don’t be the weak link
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The battle to keep food fresh and hygienic begins right after the harvest and continues during the food’s processing, its transport and until its arrival onto the supermarket shelf.

If you think, especially for frozen foods, that cold storage only needs to be adhered to in summer, you would be completely wrong! The rules for cold storage apply to all perishable goods.

Not keeping foods at their optimal temperature can result in them going bad quickly or causing health problems for your and your family.

Read on to see if you are getting your food temperature right…

Shopping to preserve food temperature

The way that supermarket are arranged is often not very logical. Quite often, you find the fruit and vegetables at the entrance, or even cheeses and dairy food… Don’t be blindly led towards these fresh and cool products once in the supermarket door… here’s some advice:

• Always start your shopping with drinks stored at room temperature and dried grocery products (rice, pasta, jam, tea, coffee, tinned foods, condiments, etc);

• Follow with the fruit and vegetables and then fresh food (yoghurt, butter, meat, fish, fresh pasta…);

• Finish with frozen foods: these are the most perishable and should only be kept for 30 minutes out of a refrigerator. To keep these foods frozen until you get them home, put a cool bag or esky into the boot of your car. Avoid putting frozen foods above the exhaust pipe, or in full sunlight on the back window.

• Once you’ve finished the your food shopping, don’t go mad buying other things. Resist the shopping centres that surround supermarkets, or have a round before starting your food shopping.

• Take your food shopping directly home, even if you haven’t bought frozen products. Similarly, avoid leaving your shopping around at the office, except if there is a refrigerator there that you can keep it in. Meat, fish and dairy do not last well at room temperature, and as for fruit and vegetables, they will go off faster, kept in plastic bags and stuffed into the centre of a basket.

Managing temperature zones in your fridge

The refrigerator allows us to preserve food while limiting or, indeed, preventing the proliferation of bacteria… But there are guidelines for optimum use of your fridge. Fridges can be different, so you need to identify which parts of your fridge are meant for which foods according to temperature:

• The coldest part: this is meant for the most perishable products, or those that can be harmed by a lack of temperature control. The temperature should be between 0° and 4°C. Meat, fish, prepared meats, cooked or uncooked poultry, ready-made food from the delicatessen, soft and unpasteurised cheese, milk, cream and pre-cut vegetables should be kept here - normally at the top of the fridge.

• Intermediate area: its temperature should not exceed 6°C. Cooked fruit and vegetables, homemade dishes, leftovers, opened conserves, yoghurt and pasteurised cheese should be kept here - normally in the middle of the fridge.

• The vegetable crisper: the temperature is around 6°C, which is ideal for storing vegetables, with the exception of tomatoes, since their flavour changes with the cold. As for fruit, most of it, except strawberries, raspberries, can be kept at room temperature. The vegeatable crisper is usually at the bottom of the fridge.

• The fridge door: in this area with a temperature between 6° and 10°C, butter, drinks, juices and opened milk shoud be stored. been opened. The small indentations are not there just for decoration: they are for storing eggs, which, placed with the small end down, do well there. Eggs breathe better out of their box.

• The freezer: at minus 18°C, your freezer stores ice-real and frozen foods... as long as there has been no break in the freezing process. In the case of an unexpected rupture, never re-freeze frozen products.

4 golden rules for refrigerated food

• It is up to you to set the temperature of your refrigerator correctly. If it does not have a thermostat, buy yourself one;

• Allow cooked foods to cool down before placing them in the refrigerator otherwise the heat will increase the fridge temperature;

• Make sure that all opened food or leftovers are hermetically covered (Tupperware, Ziploc bags, plastic film) to minimize transfer of bacteria and odours;

• Sort your fridge regularly: sort the fruit and veg, throwing out the ones that have gone off and clean your refrigerator thoroughly at least twice a month.

Hélène Huret

More information:
How to store food
Preserving food at home
Nutrition discussions