Keep your family safe by practicing proper food handling methods from preparation to consumption. Protect food from insects, rodents, and other animals that carry pathogenic microorganisms and cause food-borne diseases. Storing food in closed containers is the best protection against these agents.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are factors related to food handling that are responsible for food-borne disease outbreaks around the globe. These include common practices that are often overlooked and bring serious health risks.

Some of these practices that should be avoided are as follows:

• preparation of food several hours prior to consumption, combined with its storage at temperatures which favors growth of pathogenic bacteria and/or formation of toxins;

• insufficient cooking or reheating of food to reduce or eliminate pathogens;

• cross contamination; and

• people with poor personal hygiene handling the food.

The WHO regards illness due to food contamination as one of the most widespread health problems in the world. Protect your family from food-borne diseases through habitual practice of safe food handling.

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