Food Safety Guidelines to Keep Your Family Safe in Dubai

• When at the supermarket, frozen and chilled items should be purchased last. Always start with dry food.
• Look for production, expiry dates and use buy dates.

• Clean refrigerators and freezers before stocking the food.
• Domestic fridges and refrigerators are not designed to handle a big overload of food. Make sure that there is enough space for cold air to circulate.
• Chilled items should be maintained between 1 - 4 ºC and frozen items below -18 ºC.
• Avoid cross contamination by segregating food properly inside refrigerators and freezers. High risk food should be properly covered.

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• Allow sufficient time to defrost frozen food depending on their size.
• Defrost should not be done on the kitchen counter; either inside the refrigerator or in the microwave.

• Wash and disinfect fruits and vegetables; it will help removing bacteria.
• Remove soil, especially in leafy vegetables, where most of the bacteria live.
• Wash vegetables under potable water and rub them.
• Check water quality prior to use; water filters and disinfectants can be used to treat contaminated water inside tanks.

• Avoid keeping cooked food at room temperature more than two hours.
• Prepare food as close as possible to dinner time.
• Wash your hands properly before preparing food and after handling raw food.
• Use separate cutting boards and utensils and clean them thoroughly to avoid cross contamination between raw and cooked food.
• Do not wash raw chicken or turkey meat before cooking, it will splash harmful bacteria around the kitchen.

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• Cook thoroughly, above 75 °C, minced meat, poultry, and other food… to avoid survival of food poisoning bacteria.
• Do not use raw eggs in food unless they are going to be cooked.

• Always serve food hot and keep them above 63 ºC.
• Refrigerate or freeze leftovers quickly after storing them in suitable containers.
• Avoid reheating food for more than one time; reheating temperature should reach 75 ºC.

With a little extra time and a little ‘know-how’ you can keep food poisoning away from your loved ones.