Learn to Avoid Food Poisoning With 3 Simple Cooking Habits

Every kind of food we eat is crawling with micro-organisms like bacteria. Of course, bacteria are not all bad. There are beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines that help us digest the food we eat. However, on the other side of the coin, there are harmful types of bacteria that grow on food and these can make us sick.

So how can you reduce your chance of getting sick from the food you prepare? If you're an expert in the kitchen, you probably already know the answer. This might be less obvious for the average person just starting to cook though.

#1: Always cook your meat well. When meat is uncooked or undercooked, there can be a lot of different kinds of bacteria which can still grow. Some of these might make you sick directly by interacting with cells that make up your stomach. Other bacteria will just keep growing on your meat and make toxins which will make you sick. If you're eating meat that's undercooked, you do run into some health risks if the meat is not well treated. If you cook your meat well or even overcook it a little, you kill all the harmful bacteria and you won't get sick. Also, when you cook your meat well, you can refrigerate it safely for longer than undercooked meat.

#2: Don't use the same knife to cut salad and meat. Most people will dice or slice their meat before cooking it. When you use the knife to cut your uncooked meat, bacteria are not yet killed and will attach to your knife. If you use the same knife to cut your salad (say lettuce for your salad, which does not get cooked), you will be transferring the bacteria from the meat to your salad. Either rinse the knife with soap and briefly dry it with a paper towel every time you are switching from meat to salad or just use two different knives (one for cutting salad exclusively and the other for cutting meat).

#3: Wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them. This is an extremely good habit to get into. Sometimes you can have fungus or bacteria growing on the surface of your fruits and vegetables that can't be seen by the naked eye. Washing them will get rid of many of them. At the same time, you will also be washing your hands. This habit is a double whammy.

It's also important to note that the average person with a normal immune system can take a low dose of harmful bacteria. For example, if your uncooked meat starts with a high dose of harmful bacteria, you should definitely cook it well. If your meat starts off with a low dose of harmful bacteria, these habits are somewhat less important for the average person. Most times, you just don't know how much harmful bacteria are on your uncooked meat, so it's best to practice these habits right from the start.

These are some of the simplest habits you should develop to reduce the risk of getting sick from food.