In recent years, there have been many food safety incidents, so special attention should be paid when selecting food ingredients. Modern people are too busy to shop every day, so in order to keep food at its best freshness, first of all, before buying, you can list the items and portions you are buying to avoid unnecessary waste and to keep the ingredients fresh.
Step 1 Extend Food Shelf Life
In the order of food purchase, you should first choose packaged foods such as rice, noodles, vegetable oil and seasonings that do not require refrigeration, and pay attention to the expiration date and whether the packaging is intact and undamaged before purchasing.
Step 2 Extend Food Shelf Life
Next, buy vegetables, fruits and other foods that can be kept at room temperature for one to two days, and finally fresh meat that needs to be kept frozen and refrigerated, and remember to bring a cooler bag to store them in to separate the vegetables and fruits to avoid cross contamination.
When purchasing ingredients, the principle of risk diversification should prevail. For example, when purchasing the same ingredient, you can change the manufacturer or place of origin every week as the purchasing standard to reduce the risk.
If the ingredients are fresh, try to choose the seasonal ingredients are fresher, and buy packaged ingredients, should choose the food label certified by the government authorities is better, for their own more gate-keeping, eat with peace of mind.
Step 3 Extend Food Shelf Life
In addition, in food storage, besides separating ingredients to avoid microbial cross-contamination, attention should also be paid to the temperature of good food storage, including the refrigerator’s freezing temperature should be lower than 7℃ and the freezing temperature should be lower than -18℃, and the items should be placed at seven percent full, and the convective circulation of cold air should be maintained.
It is recommended that people can place a simple thermometer in the refrigerator at home to monitor the temperature inside the refrigerator at any time to ensure that the refrigerator has good refrigeration conditions to preserve food freshness.
Recommended reading:
Should we wash or cut the vegetables first to avoid losing nutrients
