10 tips for the festive feast lovers

To avoid turning a festive New Year atmosphere into a real poisoning nightmare, you just need to follow some simple but very important rules. Nune Bakunts, the Deputy Director General of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention at the Armenian Health Ministry, presents some tips for those, who like to celebrate the New Year at a luxurious, richly furnished table, to surprise their guests with an exotic menu, but, at the same time, don’t want to fall into line with food poisoning patients:

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• When you buy products pay attention to their storage conditions and expiry date. Having bought the products, store them in a fridge and don’t use them after the expiry date.
• Keep your kitchen clean. Regularly wash the utensils in a dishwashing liquid and warm soapy water. Don’t use the same container several times without prior washing it with a dishwashing liquid. Use a knife or a spoon only once when cooking, don’t stir different dishes with the same spoon.
• Keep raw products separate from ready-to-eat or steam-cooked food.
• Mind that the expiry period for cooked foodstuffs is 2-3 hours and that they should be stored in fridge. Therefore, cook in small quantities, just as much as you will consume. Don’t reheat foot more than once.
• Don’t leave dishes open on a table. It particularly concerns salads that contain mayonnaise or sour cream. This also applies to fish products, sausages, meat, pastry. They can spoil in a few hours if kept on the table in a warm house. Therefore, keep ready-to-eat meals in fridge. Nuts and candies can be left on the table, because they don’t require special storage conditions.
• Fatty sauces should be added to a dish right before it is served.
• Don’t mix incompatible food. For example, it’s not advisable to have pastry after caviar.
• Don’t use suspicious products and seasonings of unknown origin, artificial sequins with additive chemicals, toys.
• Mind that the New Year is a festival rather than a contest on consumption of unlimited quantities of food.
• Buy products in shops rather than from outdoor stalls; pay attention that they are not damaged, have natural color and smell and bear the ‘best before’ label.

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Published:  04.01.2017