-By James Mellgren

In baseball, the object is to go home! And be safe! I hope I'll be safe at home!
– George Carlin

So far, you've done everything right. Your receiving procedures are impeccable and your walk-ins are immaculate. Your FIFO system (First In, First Out) is working like a well-oiled Swiss watch, and there is more hand-washing going on than in a Senate subcommittee. Your cold food is cold enough and your hot food is hot enough, and you can trace every ingredient back to the time of day it was picked. You have even had the foresight to establish a crisis management team just in case any food-related problem should arise, everyone with emergency phone numbers at the ready. By Jove, you're set. Nothing could possibly go wrong now.

Just when you thought it was safe to take a day off, Mrs. Jones calls to say her daughter is ill from the seafood salad she purchased at your store yesterday. She neglects to say that her daughter left the salad in the hot car for several hours while she was running errands. Meanwhile, the Singes have forgotten their tuna sandwiches in the sun while they played volleyball, and another customer has roasted a chicken, only to carve it on the same unwashed cutting board on which she had cut the bird up. They all bought the food at your store, they are all sick, and they are all calling you.

The Consumer's Always Right, Even When They're Wrong
It's the last piece of the food safety puzzle and the one over which you have the least control -- the consumer. You can do everything you can to ensure that the food from your store is clean and safe right up to the point where it leaves the checkout area. But now that same food is in the hands of the consumer and beyond your control, and yet if anyone gets ill, they will hold you responsible before they will take any responsibility for their own carelessness or ignorance of proper food handling. You will no doubt encounter otherwise intelligent and responsible people who will do the stupidest things with their food and have no idea that they did anything wrong. This means that you will have to do everything you can to educate your customers on how to safely shop for, cook, serve and store food. And it begins in the shopping cart.

There are several good ways to educate your customers about proper food safety, including signage, pamphlets, seminars and demos, and through your store newsletter; but before you teach them how to handle food at home, teach them how to shop. For example, it's a good idea to shop for the most perishable items last. Fish, fresh dairy products, poultry, eggs and, of course, frozen goods should be the last items in the cart, particularly if it is a big shopping trip with lots of waiting time at the deli or prepared foods case. For a customer who lives five minutes from your store, this might not be so big a deal. But for anyone who has to travel some distance to reach home, or is planning a series of stops en route, every extra minute perishable food sits in the shopping cart can be crucial.

If food safety starts in the cart, the next crucial phase is the ride home. Again, if someone lives next door or down the street, it's a moot point. Most don't, however, and the more instructions you offer, the better, particularly during the warmer months of the year. Use signage to suggest that shoppers don't put their groceries in the trunk, typically the hottest place in the car. Put groceries inside the car where it is likely air-conditioned. Alternatively, encourage regular shoppers to keep a cooler in their trunk, preferably pre-filled with ice. Be sure and have ice or ice packs available in the summer and offer it to anyone traveling any distance. Keep a supply of frozen ice packs in the most perishable areas of the store such as those offering fresh fish or poultry. If someone doesn't have a cooler in their car, pack their frozen purchases strategically around the non-frozen perishable items. Poultry will be cold enough not to immediately melt the frozen goods, and the frozen goods will help keep the chicken cold.

Four Steps to Safe Food at Home
If you can manage to help your customers get their food home safely, the next step is to teach them how to handle it properly in order to avoid contaminating it during preparation. Fortunately, the same procedures that should be in place at your store apply very nicely in the home kitchen as well. Clean - Separate - Cook - Chill is the succinct message that the Partnership for Food Safety (www.fightbac.org) came up with as a teaching tool. It addresses the fact that food becomes contaminated in one of three ways: time-temperature abuse, cross-contamination and poor hygiene. The details of this plan make great fodder for your newsletters and handouts.

Clean. Wash your hands before and after handling food, and make sure your cutting and food preparation areas are sanitized (see sidebar). Also, don't put food back on surfaces -- cutting boards, platters, etc. -- on which you previously had raw meat or other potentially unsafe, raw foods. This is a common mistake made during outdoor grilling, putting the cooked meat back on the platter used to carry it outside to the grill.

Separate. Another common mistake made during outdoor cooking or in transporting food to or from an event is to allow raw foods to contaminate cooked foods. When traveling to a cookout, keep raw meats sealed and stored safely away from already prepared foods and foods that will be eaten raw such as salads, sliced tomatoes, fruit and so on. Likewise, avoid cutting raw poultry, fish and seafood next to the salad area. Have special cutting boards designated for poultry, fish and meat, and others for vegetables. Also, don't store raw meats above vegetables and other raw foods in the fridge. Keep meats below in case they drip any juices.

Cook. Be sure to cook foods to their proper internal temperatures. Always use an oven thermometer, instant-read meat thermometers and poultry thermometers to be sure temperatures are correct. This doesn't mean you have to get crazy about it and cook your steak to shoe leather; just be aware of safe temperatures and adhere to them. This is especially true of poultry.

Chill. Get perishable foods into the refrigerator as quickly as possible when you get home. Even if you are planning to cook them right away, don't leave poultry or fish at room temperature while you are changing clothes, tending to the children or doing other chores around the house. Never defrost food at room temperature, always do it in the refrigerator. Likewise for marinating meats. Don't add marinating juices to already cooked meats. Also, don't overstuff your refrigerator, and be aware that foods stored in the door panels will be warmer than those inside, so plan accordingly. It's a good idea to keep a refrigerator thermometer in the fridge at all times, even if it is new.

Ultimately, there is only so much you can do about how people handle their food once they leave the store. But the more you can teach them, remind them, demonstrate to them and otherwise influence them, the better off you'll both be. As the late George Carlin once said, "I hope you'll all be safe at home."

Housekeeping for Safe Food
Spring-cleaning is great, but I think it's a good idea to conduct a thorough housecleaning at least twice a year, in the fall and in the spring, and some cleaning chores should be done more often. Here are some tips for consumers and their housecleaning with food safety in mind.

• Always clean kitchen surfaces thoroughly with hot soapy water or a cleaning solution of 1 cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons salt and a gallon of warm water. Sanitize kitchen countertops with a chlorine bleach solution made up of 1 tablespoon chlorine bleach to 1 gallon of water. Keep it in a spray bottle. Simply spray it on the surface and allow to air-dry.
• Disinfect sponges, kitchen towels and washcloths often. You can wash sponges in the washing machine with towels. Better yet, replace them regularly since they are inexpensive. Also, it does no good to wash your hands and then dry them on a dirty towel, so have plenty of clean kitchen towels on hand.
• Regularly rid your refrigerator of spills, bacteria, mold and mildew, all of which can spoil food. Clean interior surfaces with hot soapy water, rinse them with a clean, damp cloth and dry with a clean one. Don't use chlorine bleach as it can damage seals, gaskets and linings.
• Clean your kitchen sink drain and garbage disposal regularly. Once a week or so, pour a solution of 1 teaspoon bleach to 1 quart of warm water down the drain. Food particles get trapped in the drain and disposal, creating the perfect wet environment for bacterial growth.

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