Baby hasn’t finished her feeding bottle should I throw it away? There remains half of little pot carrot, we keep some for tomorrow? Dad just made a dish of lasagna for the whole family and would like some freeze to have some in advance but, how to do to keep food safe ? Can I keep them for a long time? Pascal Nourtiernutritionist, gives us the keys to adopt the right hygiene measures and thus avoid poisoning or the transmission of virusesparticularly in times of confinement where vigilance is required.
What type of food can be stored in the refrigerator?
In practice, we can keep everything in refrigerator between 24h and 48h. The important thing is good isolate each food. If you want to keep leeks in the fridge: don’t put them in the vegetable drawer full of soil with minced meat right next to it! Deposit clean, washed, peeled food but, above all enclosed in a covered container.
Risky products are products handled and the processed products (minced meats, preparations based on eggsraw meat and fish, cooked preparations) that should not be left out in the open air.
What are the best containers or containers for storing food?
I recommend glass, more ecological, whose risk of degradation over time is lower. Avoid using the plastic box that you get from the caterer and put in the dishwasher or in hot water. Generally, we do not know the conservation standards of these containers.
In the kitchen, the plastic film to cover is ideal, you can also use lids provided they are well cleaned and dried.
If a baby does not drink warm milk, can it be put back in the fridge and if so for how long?
I do not recommend putting milk that has already been heated in the refrigerator, it is taking a risk. For cooling food, it is recommended that the core temperature of the food drops from 63°C to 10°C in less than two hours. Indeed, the temperature zone between 10°C and 63°C is a risk zone, a zone in which the proliferation of microorganisms is the greatest. This is why you need to cool your food quickly. If Baby takes a long time to drink his bottle, bacteria may start to proliferate. There is no immediate danger, but if you put the bottle back in the refrigerator to take it out later, it becomes a risky food. To avoid the wasteI advise parents to make under-dosed bottles even if it means giving back an additional quantity.
For other baby preparations (small jars, purées) we must not keep what baby has touched.
What are the recommendations for proper freezing/thawing?
Proper freezing of raw food requires: wash, clean, dry and freeze them directly as soon as possible and prevent them from touching surfaces or other foods as much as possible before freezing.
For the cooked foodit’s necessary forget the cooling because that’s when bacteria proliferate. To cool food, the best technique is the cold bain-marie for 10-15 min maximum then place the food directly in the freezer. It is necessary that the time between the end of cooking and the start of freezing is as short as possible to reduce the passage of food at risky temperatures.
The thawing must be made: from the freezer directly into the fridge for 24 hours. You don’t have to Above all, do not thaw outside the fridge. to avoid ambient temperatures that accelerate the growth of bacteria.
What does the child risk if the food is not well preserved?
He risks a food poisoning more or less serious. Even if serious poisoning is extremely rare, it is better to avoid it. The symptoms are diarrhoea, vomiting, fever. You can also catch virus.
In the event of a health crisis such as Coronavirus, what advice would you give?
The use of bleach is a good way to fight against bacteria. I recommend pouring a small cap in the dishwasher or in the sink. This helps to wash and disinfect. In small quantities it is not at all dangerous, in the communities besides the food and the surfaces are cleaned with an addition of bleach. It is one of the only products that destroys all bacteria and viruses. It is not toxic to human body in minute quantity and water washes the product away.
And especially wash your kitchen utensils correctly, disinfect work plans and clean the refrigerator regularly: food that falls turns into “culture broth” (liquid intended to develop microbes).