Cooked foods should only be kept at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours... How to prevent food poisoning during the summer?

◆ If suspected to be spoiled, do not hesitate to discard it.

Foods suspected of flooding due to summer monsoon or heavy rain should be discarded. Purchased fresh foods must also be carefully checked for spoilage. Fermented sauces such as soybean paste and soy sauce, as well as seafood, meat, eggs, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and paper-packaged products must all be discarded if there are signs of spoilage. For canned and other packaged foods, it is recommended to disinfect the exterior of the packaging with a cloth soaked in sterilizing disinfectant before opening.

◆ Cut and trimmed ingredients must be stored in the refrigerator

During the hot weather, it is best to store ingredients in the refrigerator. Ingredients that are cut with a knife or peeled must be kept refrigerated. Dry ingredients like powders should be kept sealed or refrigerated. It is recommended to consume opened products as soon as possible. Especially for agricultural products, attention should be paid to washing and disinfecting after purchase. For frozen foods, use the refrigerator or microwave for thawing, and do not refreeze foods that have been thawed once.

◆ Prepared foods should be kept at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours during the summer.

Cooked foods should be consumed quickly or stored in the refrigerator at below 5°C because microorganisms can rapidly multiply at room temperature. Cooked foods that are vulnerable to room temperature storage must be stored in covered containers in the refrigerator. Other cooked foods should also be consumed within 1-2 hours at room temperature during summer. It is better to prepare only small portions at a time rather than cooking a large amount all at once.

◆ Boiling water sterilization, alcohol or disinfectant sterilization

When the temperature and humidity are high, microorganisms can easily proliferate between scratches on kitchen utensils or equipment. It is recommended to replace utensils or equipment that are scratched or heavily nicked. After cooking, the utensils or equipment used should be sterilized by boiling in hot water, soaked in 70% alcohol or a chlorine-based disinfectant approved for food contact for 5 minutes, or disinfected by spraying the surface.

◆ Do not open the refrigerator during a power outage, beware of cross-contamination

Power outages are more likely to occur in summer. If the refrigerator's electricity supply is cut off due to a power outage, it is best not to open the door to maintain the cold inside. Additionally, to prevent cross-contamination of other ingredients, it is advisable to store seafood and meat juices separately from vegetables and other foods.