Planning

Whether you’re planning a small family dinner or large gathering for friends and family, or if you plan on leaving your catering/serving duties in the hands of someone else, make sure that this individual is selected carefully and is extremely reliable. Ensure your selected caterer, chef or server possesses a food handler’s permit from the Department of Public Health. Additionally, ensure that they are provided with full instructions on what to prepare and how, along with all the right utensils and containers for food preparation. These include, but are not limited to, food thermometers, cookware, storage containers, paper towels and sanitisers. If you plan on having an outdoor event, ensure that you have sufficient potable water and adequate facilities for hand-washing along with cleaning/washing of used items. You should also ensure that you have enough space to store perishable food items and prepped food not ready for serving.

High-Risk Guests

Please remember to find out if you will have guests who are high-risk for food poisoning at your dinners. These include adults over 60, pregnant women, young children and people with weakened immune systems. If your guest list is too large to be this detailed, avoid preparing high-risk foods such as raw or under-cooked eggs, raw or unpasteurised dairy products, raw fish or shellfish, raw or undercooked meat and poultry.

What to do with all the leftovers?

I’m sure many of you will be loaded with leftovers for days after your festive meals. See to it that perishable foods are not left at room temperature for more than two hours. Take care to refrigerate or freeze leftovers within two hours of serving — less if there are high temperatures outdoors. Don’t forget, “when in doubt, throw it out”. Select shallow containers for the storage of leftovers. Additionally, avoid storing gravy with your meats. Slice large cuts of meat into thinner slices before storage.

If someone gets ill from consuming food at your dinner/event, find out exactly what they had to eat and segregate the suspected food immediately. If the person is from one of the above at-risk groups, ensure they seek treatment/medical care immediately.