Foods that do not require any form of cooking before eating should be handled with care.
Fruits must be washed well before storage and consumption.
Hands should be washed before touching and eating fruits as well.
They need to be stored well and eaten whole all the time. If a portion of the fruit shows a sign of spoilage, it becomes dangerous to even eat the portion of the fruit which looks normal.
It is very common to see people eating roasted plantain they buy from the roadside without cleaning their hands. This can be very dangerous. Hand sanitisers are believed to kill germs. Keeping a small bottle in your bag and using it to clean the hand before eating the roasted plantain for example can only be a plus.
Mind you, hand sanitisers do not deal with germs as well as washing hands with soap and water would.
Teach children some food hygiene as well
First of all, anyone who feeds children should have their hands washed well. When the child starts growing, holding and touching things, they need to be observed well. Prevent them from picking things (to eat) from the floor.
They need to be made to practice correct hand washing at home and at school. Before the hand touches food, it must be washed with soap.
Children might think that rubbing their hands off in their dress cleans the hands well for food. A lot of teaching and correction needs to go into helping them out.
Keeping food in the fridge
It is not a good idea to store food in the fridge for a very long period. Food kept in the refrigerator also get spoilt, just that the cold environment slows down the rate of spoilage.
It even becomes worse when there is no steady supply of electricity in most homes. Some people also put their refrigerators off for economic reasons.
Anytime the refrigerator goes off, your soup or stew in the fridge risks contamination. Some of the micro-organisms will start growing in the stew thus spoilage sets in and your risk of being poisoned increases.
The advice is this: do not keep any food in the fridge for too long. In fact, keep food in the fridge just for a few days to a week.
• The writer of this article is a Dietician at Trust Hospital & Clinics. Grab copies of my book titled: “Diet, Health & Wellness” and my video and audio diet advice on CDs. Contact: 0244090262.
