Without food a person will not live long. However, food can provoke a number of diseases. What are these diseases? Various poisoning and foodborne illnesses caused by dangerous microorganisms or toxins. In order to learn how to avoid such problems, you need to get some idea of the microbes that we have to deal with.
The truth about microbes
Microbes surround us everywhere. However, first of all, they prefer feces, soil, water, skin of people and animals.
So, on 1 square centimeter of a human skin on a constant basis lives about 100 thousand bacteria.
Not all microbes are dangerous for a person."Good" microorganisms help digest food, prepare foods, produce medicines, "bad" usually do not cause disease, but they can spoil the appearance of the products, their taste and smell.
Really dangerous microbes are called pathogenic. The type and taste of the product they most often do not change, but can lead to illness or even fatal. Such microorganisms include shigella bacteria, salmonella, Escherichia coli E. coli, hepatitis A virus, norovirus, parasites like trichinella and many others.
Microbes do not possess the ability to move independently. As a rule, they use for transportation contaminated water, animal hair, food. Once in a favorable environment for them, microorganisms begin to multiply intensively. For prosperity, they need heat, food and water. In just six hours, one bacterium can produce up to 16 million similar ones.
Simple rules
No matter how dangerous some microorganisms are, they can be protected. To do this, you must follow 5 simple rules.
Handwashing
No matter how clean something looks, this does not mean that it is. For example, to make a glass of water turbid, it will take 2.5 billion bacteria. But to poison a person, enough 15-20 pathogenic microbes.
Hence the conclusion: wash your hands before contacting with food, during their preparation, and before eating. When heat treatment of raw products, pathogens die, but they remain on hands.
Hand washing is necessary after visiting the toilet, playing with animals, contact with "chemistry".Also, those who smoke should wash their hands after smoking, because dangerous bacteria are present in tar-containing and nicotine-containing cigarettes. You need to wash your hands properly. Soap them for at least 20 seconds, the water temperature does not matter.
Cleanliness in the kitchen
A clean family will not allow the tile to become sticky from fat in the kitchen, the dishes are not washed. Household parasites are harvested in all possible ways. Even in a clean kitchen, it is important to pay extra close attention to food contacting subjects. They need not just be rinsed with water, but also disinfected with detergents.
Cutting boards and knives used for slicing raw meat and fish require special attention. Wooden boards in general are undesirable to use for these purposes, as they do not wash well and dry for a long time. The wet environment for pathogens is the home of the native.
Food waste immediately needs to be sent to the trash. The bucket itself must be regularly emptied.
Wash cloths, towels and sticks as they become dirty, change and discard as they become unusable. The fact is that they find shelter a mass of inhabitants of food waste.
Pets are not the place on the kitchen table, their snow-white legs contain many pathogens.
Raw and ready - apart
Hardly anyone would think of putting a piece of fried fish and a raw chicken leg on one plate. Meanwhile, raw and finished products are often "found" on the shelves of the refrigerator, on the cutting boards, cut into one knife.
On raw fish and meat, pathogenic microorganisms come into play, which, when culinary processing, die, but continue to live on that will not be cooked and fried.
Get a large set of plastic containers, in which lay out different types of products. You will see, from the refrigerator finally bags and paper will disappear, but there will be an extra place.
Heat treatment
Proper heat treatment kills pathogenic microorganisms. They lose activity when heated to 60 degrees. Food should be thoroughly warmed up.
The safe minimum is 70 degrees for half a minute. And it is necessary that the whole dish is warmed up, not just its surface.
A large piece of meat inside is sterile. Consequently, the undercooked cutlet, minced meat mixed with microbes, is more dangerous than a single piece of meat. But in any case, it's better to roast the pieces of meat properly.
When heating a ready-made dish, also follow certain rules. Liquid dish must be left for at least a minute, firm - it should be heated to evenly hot condition. By the way, a warm dish is nice.
In a microwave oven, you need to warm food with caution, because the products in it are heated unevenly, which means that bacteria have a good chance of a happy existence.
Freezing
The normal room temperature is ideal for multiplying microorganisms. Very badly, they begin to feel at a temperature that is below 5 degrees.
Do not leave the cooked dish on the stove for a long time.2 hours is the maximum. After cooling, immediately remove the food in the refrigerator. In the fridge, you should not leave it for longer than three days. Fresh, not frozen foods should also be kept in the refrigerator. Regularly check the products, paying attention to the terms of their storage. In case of exceeding the time limit, dispose of the products without regret. Immediately throw out the weathered foods and swollen canned food.
Defrost food in the refrigerator. This will preserve the normal taste of the product and will not allow bacteria to multiply in its upper, thawing layers in the first place.
Summary: cleanliness and once again cleanliness of
Nobody drinks raw water from an open reservoir somewhere in the park. The purity of drinking water should also be monitored. Do not drink tap water. Either boil it, or filter it.
Even pure-looking vegetables and fruits should be thoroughly washed, especially if you plan to eat them raw.
When buying, choose only fresh products. It is their place in your fridge. Damaged or rotten fruits leave on the counter. Be suspicious of fish and meat, in a warm season not lying in the refrigerator. Avoid buying these products if they are lying on dirty shelves. Do not buy dairy products from sellers who sell them in the sun.