Top 10 eating principles to remember during Tet holidays

Proper selection, processing and preservation of food is important to ensure nutrients are retained and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria.

Eating principles to keep in mind during Tet

According to the Department of Food Safety of Ho Chi Minh City, consumers' understanding and choice skills make an important contribution to ensuring food safety.

During the process of processing, using and preserving food, consumers should apply the "10 golden principles" to ensure food hygiene and safety given by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Principle 1: Choose safe food

Proper food preparation and storage is very important in protecting your family's health. (Illustration photo: Pexels).

Choose to buy food from reputable places with clear origins. For food ingredients and pre-packaged foods, it is necessary to check whether the product inside is intact or not.

Labels must accurately and fully display product information (name of goods; name and address of the organization or individual responsible for the goods; origin of goods; other mandatory contents must be shown. on the label according to the nature of each specified type of goods.

Principle 2: Cook food thoroughly

Thoroughly cooking food means ensuring that the food's center temperature reaches over 70 degrees Celsius.

Principle 3: Eat as soon as the food is cooked

Cooked food cools gradually when kept at room temperature, creating favorable conditions for bacteria to grow. The longer it is left, the higher the risk of infection. To ensure safety, you should eat food as soon as it is cooked.

Principle 4: Carefully preserve cooked food

If you want to keep food for more than 5 hours, you need to keep it continuously hot above 60 degrees Celsius or cold below 10 degrees Celsius.

Preserving food ingredients and food after cooking at the right temperature and properly, with a clear distinction between raw and cooked, ensures food safety and at the same time helps reduce the loss of food nutrients.

For fresh vegetables and fruits, when purchased, they need to be stored in the refrigerator in the cool compartment.
For meat, fish, and seafood groups, if not processed immediately, they need to be stored in the freezer.
Eggs and milk groups need to be stored. Refrigerate or cool place in the house, avoid direct sunlight.
Cereals and grains need to be kept in a cool, dry place, away from moisture.

Principle 5: Cook food thoroughly

Food should be eaten within 2 hours of being cooked. After 2 hours of storage at normal temperature, it must be reheated thoroughly before eating.

Principle 6: Do not mix raw and cooked foods

Cooked food can be contaminated with pathogens through direct contact with raw food ingredients or indirectly with dirty surfaces (such as sharing knives and cutting boards to prepare raw and cooked foods).

Principle 7: Keep hands clean when preparing food

Wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food and after doing other tasks that interrupt the processing process.

Principle 8: Keep food preparation surfaces clean

Because food is susceptible to contamination, any surface used to prepare food must be kept clean.

Principle 9: Cover food carefully

Cover and preserve food in sealed containers, glass cabinets, table cages. to protect food from the intrusion of insects and other animals.

Principle 10: Use safe clean water sources

Clean water is water that is colorless, odorless, tasteless and does not contain pathogens.