Category Archives: Microbiology Investigations

CFS

It is warm and cosy for a family to gather around a hotpot and have a nice little chat while cooking their favourite food in a chilly winter. The recipe for healthy and yummy hotpot includes careful choice of ingredients and good food and personal hygiene.

When purchasing hotpot ingredients, you are advised to buy food from reliable suppliers, and fresh food is the food of choice. Make sure that the packaging of the prepackaged food is intact and check the expiry date on the food label.

After bringing the hotpot ingredients home, most of them should be stored in a refrigerator at 4℃ or below, while frozen food should be stored in a freezer at -18℃. Do not thaw frozen food at room temperature as bacteria may multiply rapidly. Better defrost in a refrigerator or under running tap water.

Food and personal hygiene must be observed during food preparation. After handling raw food, wash hands thoroughly before handling cooked food in order to prevent cross-contamination. All food ingredients must be washed thoroughly. When washing vegetables, pick off the outer leaves, then wash vegetables thoroughly under clean running water. When appropriate, scrub produces with hard surfaces with a clean produce brush to remove dirt and substances from the surface and the fissures. Poultry meat, pork and beef should be washed and cut into thin slices to facilitate thorough cooking. The shells of shellfish should be scrubbed and rinsed, and their internal organs removed.

Take caution if you are one of those who like to have eggs as hotpot ingredients. Not to consume eggs with cracked shells as they are prone to be contaminated by pathogens. Eggs stained with dirt must be washed thoroughly. Wash hands thoroughly after handling or coming into contact with eggs. Also, do not dip cooked food into raw eggs before consumption as pathogens may be present inside these eggs.

When cooking food in the hotpot, use two sets of chopsticks and utensils to handle raw and cooked food respectively. Whenever water or soup is added to the pot, wait until it is boiling hot before adding food. Most importantly, food must be thoroughly cooked. Seafood should be boiled for at least five minutes. Sliced poultry meat and pork should also be thoroughly cooked before consumption.

Finally, you should pay equal attention to healthy eating apart from safe eating. When enjoying hotpot, beware of the quantity of food and maintain a balanced diet. Eat more vegetables with high dietary fibre.

CFS

In winter time, hotpot is a popular choice when we dine out with friends. With a great variety of hotpot ingredients, consumers can choose whatever they like to eat. However, if hotpot ingredients are not handled properly or cooked thoroughly, we will ingest not only food but also viruses or bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

When enjoying hotpot at restaurants, we should apply 5 Keys to Food Safety (i.e. Choose, Clean, Separate, Cook and Safe Temperature) from selection of a restaurant to handling and cooking of food in order to ensure food safety.

First, we should choose a reliable restaurant. A reliable restaurant could not only offer a pleasant dining environment, but also provide safe food to customers. When choosing a restaurant, we should pay attention to the hygiene of its environment, the storage conditions of food, personal hygiene of the staff, etc. as these are the criteria for determining whether it is a good choice.

When enjoying hotpots at restaurants, we should keep hands and utensils clean. Before handling food ingredients and eating, wash hands thoroughly with warm water and soap for 20 seconds and dry them with paper towel. If there is a wound on your hand, wrap it properly and avoid direct contact with the food.

When cooking, we must handle raw and cooked food with extra care and separate them completely. Do not put too many dishes on the table to avoid food-to-food cross-contamination. Also, it is preferable to use separate sets of chopsticks and utensils with different appearances to handle raw and cooked food respectively.

Cooking thoroughly is the most important principle for enjoying hotpot safely. Whenever water or soup is added, take food out of the pot only after it is boiling hot. Seafood should be boiled for at least five minutes and ensure that all foods are cooked thoroughly before consumption. As raw eggs are on offer as hotpot ingredient or ready-to-eat food in many restaurants, customers must check the conditions of eggs. Eggs with cracked shells should be discarded immediately as they are prone to be contaminated by pathogens. Wash hands thoroughly after coming into contact with eggs. Do not consume cooked food that are mixed with raw eggs as pathogens may be present in raw eggs.

If you take leftovers home from a restaurant, cool them quickly and put them in the refrigerator within two hours. Also, leftovers should not be kept in the refrigerator for longer than three days or reheated more than once.