How to prevent food poisoning

Improper food storage, selection, and processing can easily lead to bacterial contamination and food poisoning. Common symptoms include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and even dizziness, fainting, and coma.

Doctor Nguyen Van Tien, Nutrition Education and Communication Center, Institute of Nutrition, guides on how to choose and preserve food as follows:

Select

- Choose foods with clear origin, expiry date, and certified food safety facilities. Fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, meat and fish should be selected to retain their natural color and state, not crushed, and have no strange smell.

- Cold foods such as sausages, spring rolls, meatloaf, sausages, cheese, ham, canned foods... must be refrigerated. Do not buy canned foods that have cracks, smell sour, or have no labels.

- Choose fresh food.

Preserve

- At normal temperature, fresh food is easily spoiled and loses nutrients. To keep food fresh, you should arrange frozen food in the freezer, vegetables in the refrigerator. Frozen food such as meat and shrimp should be placed in the freezer, divided into small portions according to the amount of food eaten per meal, take out as needed, and use within 14-30 days.

- Do not wash vegetables immediately after buying them, but use paper to preserve them, wrap them and place them in a tray. Do not tie them tightly in nylon bags as water will accumulate, making vegetables and fruits wilt and rot easily. Vegetables and fruits can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, but are best used within the day.

- Do not overfill the refrigerator as this will cause food to spoil faster. Defrost properly.

- Raw and cooked foods should be kept separate to avoid contamination.

- All food when stored must be wrapped or contained in a sealed bag or package.

Processing

- Before eating raw vegetables and fruits, soak and wash thoroughly with clean water, drain, and peel.

- Fresh food before processing needs to be pre-processed, excess removed, washed with clean water and then cut into pieces to avoid reducing or losing nutrients.

- Ensure personal hygiene, tools, food processing, storage or preservation areas. Tools such as knives and cutting boards must be separated for raw and cooked foods.

- Food should be prepared in moderate quantities, avoid reheating many times.