Easter long weekend is upon us. Full of family gatherings, camping long weekends, day trips, and lots of yummy food to share. There are so many ways food can become contaminated, but even more so during the easter season. The autumn days are still warm, there’s lots of people sharing delicious food and we may be cooking food in unfamiliar environment such as a park or public BBQ. With this in mind, let’s review some standard food safety tips to ensure we all have safe and egg-cellent long weekend.
The traditional seafood meal over Easter
Purchase seafood no earlier than the day before you plan to enjoy. For a traditional Good Friday celebration, buy no earlier than Thursday.
Make sure you purchase from a reputable registered seafood supplier
Double check the seafood before purchasing that is visibly fresh and is displayed chilled.
Get the seafood home as quick as possible in an insulated container with enough ice packs or ice to keep it chilled.
Keep seafood in the fridge in a covered container. Make sure your fridge is running at 5°C or below.
Oysters should be kept on ice and consumed as soon as possible after shucking.
Consume prawns as soon as possible after purchase, while they are at their best.
Eat other refrigerated seafood within 2 to 3 days.
Extra care is needed when handling eggs
Clean hands are key! Always wash hands before handling eggs.
Remember the 2-Hour Rule: Don’t leave perishables, like eggs out at room temperature for more than two hours.
Tasting is tempting, even more so during Easter baking. However, licking a spoon or tasting raw cookie dough from a mixing bowl can be risky. Bacteria could be lurking in the raw eggs.
Cook cheesecakes, lasagna, baked pasta and other egg based dishes to an internal temperature of 75 ºC. Best to use a food thermometer.
Read more about Egg Safety here.
Preparing food for the large gatherings
Don’t overload your fridge and freezer. This reduces their ability to cool food safely. Keep low risk items such as cool drinks, alcohol and water in eskies to free up fridge space.
Always cover meats and store in the fridge at or below 5 °C.
Road trips and outdoor Easter adventures
Keep raw meat, seafood, dairy foods and other perishable and high-risk foods in an insulated cool box or an esky with plenty of ice. Portable car fridge is ideal. Keep food at or below 5 °C.
Always Follow the ‘4-hour / 2-hour rule’
If food that should be kept cold or hot has been left at temperatures between 5 °C and 60 °C for a total of:
less than 2 hours – it must be refrigerated or used immediately
more than 2 hours, but less than 4 hours – it must be used immediately
more than 4 hours or longer – it must be thrown out.
Need more Food Safety Training?
Our Food Safety Team can help. We hold regular sessions to every month for Food Safety Level 1, Food Safety Supervisors and refreshers. Plus our experts can tailor a suite of documentation, training, monitoring, reviews to help you serve five-star hospitality every time. Be sure to subscribe to our website for more Food Safety and nutrition updates too.