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Three fundamental rules for handling raw poultry:
1) Always keep raw poultry and its packaging separate from other food.
2) Always clean and wash used kitchen attributes and hands after handling raw meat.
3) Always prepare (cook, fry or roast) poultry meat until the meat juice is clear and the core temperature is at least 75°C
Three fundamental cooking rules for handling raw poultry:
1) Heating up
2) Cooling down
3) Avoiding spreading bacteria
1. Heating up raw poultry,
Bacteria die when food is heated by frying, roasting or cooking. The basic rule is that food which is containing meat, poultry, fish or eggs must be heat treated up to a core temperature of 75°C.
Meat and poultry are properly cooked when meat juices are running clearly out of the meat, and the meat is no longer pink inside. You can check it by inserting a needle in the core; the needle must come out without showing any resistance.
The already prepared home food, which is stored for later consumption needs to be reheated. This means reheated up to a core temperature of 75°C, just warming will not do!
If you need to keep food warm for a longer period of time, it must be kept at a temperature of at least 65°C to make sure that bacteria will not begin to grow again.
In a microwave oven the heat spreads unevenly over the dish. Therefore the food needs to rest for few minutes after being removed from the microwave oven so that the heat is being spread over the whole dish.
2. Cooling down (after frying or roasting fresh poultry)
If prepared food needs to be stored, the food should be cooled down quickly and stored in the refrigerator. This will slow down the growth of most of the bacteria significantly. Bacteria reproduce slowly below 5°C. Therefore, the temperature inside the refrigerator must setup at 5°C or lower especially at the section where perishable foods, such as meat, cold cuts, leftovers and dairy products are stored.
PLEASE NOTE! – All our prepared, fried, roasted and cooked products are frozen immediately after preparation. This means that there are almost no bacteria present in the products.
If you like to store leftovers, you should cool them down to room temperature where after storing them in the refrigerator as soon as possible. Large portions should be divided into smaller
portions to ensure a fast cooling process.
Warm dishes which are left on the table for a certain period of time will cool down slowly to a temperature of 20-40°C; this is the optimum temperature range for the growth of bacteria. When storing leftovers we advice you to cool them down and store in the refrigerator as soon as possible.
Food, what needs to be frozen, should be cooled down to room temperature wherafter directly stored in the freezer.
Defrosting of frozen food should always be done in the refrigerator. Put the frozen foods in a bowl or something similar so that the drip cannot contaminate any other food. Thawing meat or poultry in warm water or on the kitchen table creates good conditions for reproducing for bacteria, especially on the surface of the meat.
3. Avoid spreading bacteria
Pathogenic bacteria may be present in raw meat and meat juice. These bacteria may spread easily to the different foods on the kitchen table and in the refrigerator.
Therefore, it is important to keep the foods separate, both during storage and preparation.
It is important to use separate cutting boards and knives for the different types of food and clean the kitchen when switching between different ingredients. In this way you avoid cross contamination between the ingredients. Meat juice from raw meat needs to be removed as hygienic as possible, preferably with a paper towel.
For example: by not working hygienic you easily transfer bacteria from a raw chicken to a green salad, which is eaten without being heat-treated. You run the risk of getting sick when eating the salad.
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