Food Safety in the Time of COVID-19: Dates on Food Products

With a ‘Safer at Home‘ order, many of us are looking to foods stocked in our pantries and cupboards to help feed our families.  What do dates on food products tell us? If the date is past, is the food still safe?  In most cases, yes!  Dates on food package labels are generally quality dates, an indication […]

Read More...

Food Safety in the Time of COVID-19: Cleaning & Disinfecting

We all know that hand washing is an important defense against coronavirus.  As we work to keep ourselves and our families healthy, routine cleaning and disinfecting of areas in our homes is important.  Cleaning removes dirt from surfaces, while disinfecting kills germs that remain after cleaning. What is the best way to clean and disinfect the kitchen?  Follow these steps: Clean […]

Read More...

Food Safety in the Time of COVID-19: Hand Washing

The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is a respiratory virus.  While the Centers for Disease Control does not consider COVID-19 to be a foodborne illness, there are actions that you can take to prevent foodborne illness that appear effective in fighting the coronavirus.  Of the food safety steps in helping to mitigate coronavirus, hand washing appears to be the most important.  Avoiding contact with […]

Read More...

Food Safety in the Time of COVID-19: Take-Out Food

How likely is a person to come down with COVID-19 from take-out food from a local restaurant or items purchased at the grocery store?  Luckily, this isn’t very likely to happen. Coronovirus is a respiratory virus.  This means that it spreads primarily through the respiratory system, with the main transmission through person-to-person droplet infection.  Someone who is infected coughs […]

Read More...

Use Infant Formula Before It Expires

We encourage consumers to use ‘Best By’ dates on food and beverage packaging as a guide to decision-making, knowing that these dates are applied to food packages as indicators of quality, not safety.  Most food products are not even required to carry a ‘best by’ or ‘best if used by’ date.  The exception to this […]

Read More...

Give Canned Fruits and Vegetables a Try

February is National Canned Food Month and in the midst of winter it can be pleasant to think about gardening and the food preservation that awaits later this year.  What do we know about canned fruits and vegetables that we find on the grocery shelf?  Are they a good choice for stocking your pantry?  Here are some fun […]

Read More...

Microwave Food Safety

Image source: eatright.org Microwaves play an increasingly important role in getting meals on the table, but special care must be taken so that microwaved food is safe to eat.  Let’s look at some tips for cooking safely in a microwave oven. Is it safe to eat microwaved food?  Yes!  Microwaves are very short (micro) radio waves […]

Read More...

Tips for Cooking Safely in a Slow Cooker

Crock Pot slow cooker. During the winter, menu planning often turns more to soups and stews than at other times of the year.  When that happens, a slow cooker is the perfect appliance for preparing a nutritious meal that is ready when you walk through the door at the end of the day.  A slow […]

Read More...

Pesticide Residues in Food Products

Image courtesy of foodsafetynews.com Every year the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Pesticide Data Program analyzes a wide variety of food crops and processed foods for pesticide residues.  The annual report of testing covering 2018 was recently released (December 2019), with the numbers varying little from recent years.  According to the report summary, “Over 99% of the products […]

Read More...