Food Storage Safety Guidelines
You want to find only fresh, safe food when you open your freezer, refrigerator or pantry. Proper food storage, using safety guidelines, will keep all your meals and snacks safe. Does this Spark an idea?
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Refrigeration
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Keep your refrigerator clean and uncluttered. For safe food storage, maintain a temperature range between 35 F and 40 F, Colorado State University Extension food safety experts advise. Refrigerate the following foods for only the listed times: bread, two to three weeks; bread dough, three to four days; flour, six to eight months; fruit pies, two to three days baked, one to two days unbaked; butter, two to three months; milk, up to a week if opened; eggs, three weeks; most fresh meats, two to four days.
Frozen Foods
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Kept below 0 F, most frozen foods will never spoil, although quality may suffer with long-term storage, notes the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. Once defrosted, check for unpleasant odors that could signal a safety or major quality problem.
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Pantry Foods
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Keep your pantry dry and cool for canned and other packaged foods. They last two to five years, though higher acid content cans, such as tomatoes, last only about a year and a half, says the FDA.
Trouble
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Toss anything that looks or smells unsafe. Discard leaking or badly dented cans or jars with dislodged or bulging lids. Bad odors, slimy texture, fermentation in juice or any off taste signal danger.
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References
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- Photo Credit eggs and milk image by Jeffrey Zalesny from Fotolia.com
