Proper Food Storage Tips to Avoid Contamination

Between 30% and 40% of the American food supply is wasted. There are many reasons for the high levels of food waste.

People buy more than they need. Consumers also demand foods that look perfect, leaving a high amount of food to get discarded. There are also issues all along the food supply chain.

Another common reason is food contamination. Food gets wasted because it’s not handled properly. Food storage is linked to contaminated food, which gets people sick.

You want to avoid food contamination at any cost. Read on to learn the top tips for food storage.

1. Table of Contents

   Toggle

   Organize Your Refrigerator

Your main objective of food storage is to prevent cross-contamination. You have to do your part by following the basic food storage rules. You need to keep cooked foods and raw foods separate.

Ready to eat foods like salads and cut vegetables go on top of the fridge. Foods that haven’t been cut or prepped can have bacteria from the dirt, so they go under the ready to eat food. Raw foods are stored at the bottom.

2. What to Do if There’s Doubt

You’re likely to find yourself in a situation where you come across food and you’re not sure if it’s usable or not. The labels aren’t clear or they weren’t applied at all. You have two options to turn to in this instance.

The first is to apply the old adage, “When in doubt, throw it out.” That’s a safety rule that can cause a lot of waste in the long run.

The other option is to get the food tested for contaminants. This is especially important for large scale food products that get sold on a commercial basis. Testing at a place like midilabs.com will add another layer of quality control and reduce your liability.

3. Rotate Your Fridge and Pantry

A food rotation system lets you use your older products first and store new products behind them. Labeling your foods becomes incredibly important to know which foods went in the pantry first, and which ones should get used first.

This rotation system requires organization, but once you have a system down it becomes easy to manage.

4. Use Food Storage Equipment

What kind of food storage equipment do you use? Some people are content with storing food in plastic bags, but you can cause contamination.

A piece of chicken that thaws out can leak from a plastic bag, which causes everything else in the fridge to get tainted.

You should use plastic containers with lids for food storage. It also helps to label the containers with the date, which makes food rotation easy.

Deliveries that arrive in cardboard boxes may go right into the refrigerator because it’s easy. Take the time to unpack the box and throw away the cardboard. Bacteria grow in the cardboard and will contaminate your food.

Proper Food Storage for Food Safety

You want to serve food that’s safe and limit the amount of food waste. The best way to do that is through proper food storage.

These food storage tips walk you through basic steps to get organized and have a system that works for you.

Check out the Health and Fitness section of this site for more healthy living tips.