Summer food safety tips for vegans

Summer means warm weather, picnics and cookouts. It also means a greater risk of spoiling or causing food-borne illnesses due to the hot climate. Cheryl Luptowski, home safety expert at NSF International, recommends the following summer food safety tips. 
Summer means warm weather, picnics and cookouts. It also means a greater risk of spoiling or causing food-borne illnesses due to the hot climate. Cheryl Luptowski, home safety expert at NSF International, recommends the following summer food safety tips. 
 
Vegan food spoils, too

Just because a vegan diet reduces your risk of exposure to raw meat juices and cross contamination, food safety rules still apply for vegan foods since they, too, can harbor bacteria and can spoil in warm conditions. Luptowski says food safety is easy with her practical summer tips. Here’s how to keep food-borne illness off your summer agenda.

>>Food scares vegans are missing

Summer food safety tips for vegans
 
1. Start with a clean kitchen

According to Luptowski, a Household Germ Study by NSF International indicates that the kitchen sponge and kitchen sink were the germiest places in the home. Clean your sponges daily by microwaving them for 1 to 2 minutes and replacing them often. An alternative is to use dish rags that can be put in the washer with bleach.

2. Clean your sink

Washing food down your sink isn’t enough to kill germs. Luptowski suggests “washing and disinfecting the sides and bottom of the sink one to two times per week with a disinfecting cleaner and washing kitchen sink strainers in the dishwasher weekly.” A clean sink means the less likely your foods will get contaminated by germs.

3. Insulate your foods

When you’re ready to pack food in a cooler, put perishable foods, such as produce and vegan meat alternatives in individual containers on the bottom of the cooler with ice packs on the top. This method provides the best insulation for foods that need to remain cool. Put cold drinks in a separate cooler to avoid having the cooler containing perishable foods to constantly be opened and closed.
 
4. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold

Hot foods need to be kept at temperatures above 140 degrees F and cold foods less than 40 degrees F. Between these two temperatures, bacteria can multiply very rapidly and reach dangerous levels in as little as two hours. Carry the cooler in the passenger area of the car instead of in the trunk so air conditioning can help keep the contents cool.
 
5. Remember the one-hour rule

Do not consume any perishable foods that have been sitting out an hour or more on days where the temperature is over 90 degrees F.  Better to be safe than sorry!
 
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