Tag: Food Safety Strategies

Is That Food Safe? Your Guide to Shelf Life

Most of us have experienced the scenario where we open up the refrigerator to find something moldy looking back at us. These items are often lingering at the back of the refrigerator. Still, even when it is full view, it can be difficult to determine the optimum food shelf life inside your refrigerator. Here we’ll explore a few basic food storage standards to save you from upset stomachs and wasting money on spoiled foods.

Basic Food Safety Tips

Before we delve into the optimum shelf lifespans for all the items inside your refrigerator, there are some basic safety tips to help preserve your foods.

  • Avoid Crowding: To keep your foods properly chilled and at the correct temperature, cold air must be able to circulate around the items. While keeping your refrigerator full is more energy efficient, you should avoid crowding or overpacking.
  • Immediately Wipe Up Spills: Wiping spills quickly will not only help to avoid bacterial growth, but it will also help to prevent cross contamination. Many spills are often drips from thawing meats or other raw foods that can easily contaminate cooked dishes that will only be reheated.
  • Keep Everything Covered: All foods inside your refrigerator should be in sealed storage bags or in covered containers. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you can forget about everything, so be sure to check leftovers each day for signs of spoilage.
  • Monitor Food Expiration Dates: If any item has passed its “use by” or “best before” date, it is a good idea to discard it. If food looks questionable, it is best to err on the side of caution and throw it out.
  • Put Groceries Away Within the Hour: When you return from the grocery store, you should act quickly to ensure all your refrigerated items are properly stored. If the temperature is above 90ºf, there is a one hour limit before foods can spoil.
  • Refrigerate Leftovers Within Two Hours: There is a common misconception that you shouldn’t put hot food in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, allowing food to sit on the countertop for hours can encourage bacteria. If you have any leftovers, they should be refrigerated or possibly frozen within two hours. If you’re concerned about hot food, divide leftovers into smaller portions, so they can cool more quickly.

Shelf Life Guidelines

Most foods can be divided into groups, which can help you to determine the optimum shelf life.

Miscellaneous:

  • Opened condiments: Up to 6 months
  • Tuna: 2 to 4 days

Dairy:

You’ll need to use your sense of smell. Dairy items tend to develop a bad smell when they go bad, so anything that has a bad smell should go straight into the garbage.

  • Milk: Up to 7 days
  • Soft Cheese: Up to 7 days
  • Eggs: 3 weeks
  • Yoghurt: 7 to 14 days

Fruits:

Fruits can go soft and mushy when they start to go bad, but you may notice some items start to go black.

  • Bananas: 2 days
  • Melons: 1 week
  • Avocados: Up to 10 days

Vegetables:

Like fruits, vegetables can start to go mushy or change color.

  • Fresh lettuce: Up to 5 days
  • Tomatoes: Up to 1 week
  • Cucumber: 1 week
  • Onions: 2 months

Leftovers:

Leftovers tend to be pushed to the back of your refrigerator, so you need to ensure you keep a good eye on what is lingering there.

  • Meat Leftovers: Up to 4 days
  • Pizza: 3 to 4 days
  • Gravy: 1 to 2 days

Meats:

In addition to developing a bad odor, the most obvious sign of bad meat is changing color.

  • Chicken: Up to 2 days
  • Steak: Up to 5 days
  • Fresh Hamburger: Up to 2 days
  • Pork Chops: 3 to 5 days
  • Fresh Fish: Up to 2 days
  • Bacon: Up to 7 days
  • Fresh Sausage: Up to 2 days
  • Lunchmeats: Open- 3 to 5 days, unopened up to 2 weeks

If your refrigerator is struggling to keep your produce fresh, it may be time for an upgrade. You can explore your options with our online collection or speak to a home appliance expert for further help and guidance.

What Is the Optimum Refrigerator Temperature Setting?

Storing foods at the correct temperatures is one of the most effective ways to impede the growth of potentially dangerous bacteria. This makes it vital to ensure that your refrigerator is set at the proper temperature. Most of us are aware that keeping our food chilled in the refrigerator keeps it fresh longer, but it also provides us with vital protection against food borne illness. At room temperatures, the numbers of food borne sickness bacteria will double every 20 minutes. So, just what is the optimum temperature setting for your refrigerator?

The Optimum Temperature

To slow the growth of any bacteria, it is important that your refrigerator is operating at a temperature of 40º F or lower. Your freezer should be set at 0º F. Unfortunately, very few refrigerator models feature a control panel showing the actual temperature, so it can be difficult to determine whether your refrigerator is set at the optimum temperature.

Fortunately, you can make a relatively inexpensive purchase to verify that your refrigerator settings are correct; a freestanding appliance thermometer. This type of device can be used to monitor your refrigerator temperature and make any adjustments to the settings as needed. It is important to understand that the internal temperature of your refrigerator can vary according to how much is being chilled, the exterior temperature and other factors. This means that you can’t simply record the temperature and assume that setting 3 will always offer a 40º F temperature. You may need to adjust the settings according to the time of year, whether you’ve just been grocery shopping or even if the kids have been leaving the door open while they spend 5 minutes deciding on a snack a few times a day.

Other Food Safety Strategies

While the refrigerator temperature is important, there are additional steps you can take to ensure that your chilled items remain as safe as possible. The first thing is to ensure that you don’t over pack your refrigerator. Although it can be tempting to cram in your produce and perishables, particularly after a large grocery expedition, cold air needs to circulate to keep your items properly chilled. You should also immediately wipe up any spills as this will not only help reduce Listeria bacteria growth, it will also prevent “cross contamination,” particularly if the spills are drips from thawing or raw meat. You should also try to store any leftovers or refrigerated foods in sealed bags or covered containers. Of course, you should check any leftovers frequently for signs of spoilage and ensure that no expired food lingers in the back of your refrigerator. It is a good idea to develop good refrigerator management habits and make cleaning out your refrigerator part of your usual kitchen cleaning routines.

The Two Hour Rule

Finally, whether you are dealing with just purchased foods or leftovers, you need to think about the two-hour rule. It’s important that foods that need to be chilled are into your refrigerator quickly and allowing these perishable items to remain at room temperature for more than two hours allows any bacteria to rapidly multiply, putting you and your family at serious risk from food borne illness.

When you return from the grocery store, ensure that refrigerated or perishable items are put away as quickly as possible. If the air temperature outdoors is over 90º F, there is a limit of an hour for your produce being put in the refrigerator.

The two-hour rule also applies to leftovers and doggie bags of take-out food. If you want to help your hot food cool before putting it in the refrigerator, divide the leftovers into smaller containers, but putting warm food into your refrigerator won’t actually harm your appliance.

If you have concerns that your refrigerator is no longer up to the task of keeping your food properly chilled, you can explore the options with this online collection of refrigerators or contact a home appliance expert for a more specialist service.