JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Super Bowl is this weekend, and it’s traditionally one of the biggest events of the year for parties.
The pandemic is forcing many to cancel or scale down their watch events, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still make a yummy spread for your family.
It’s also important to make sure you’re cooking and storing your food safely.
Chef William McCool and Chef Robert Bouman from Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Culinary School joined us on The Morning Show to share some food safety reminders.
They said the trick is to pay attention to how long cold and hot food stays out.
“For cold food, you have six hours that you can leave your food out as long as it doesn’t exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit,” Bouman explained. “For hot food, you have four hours that it can stay out. After that, you really should consume it.”
He pointed out that if food is left out for that long, it should NOT be put back into the refrigerator to be saved for later.
Because of that, a good game plan is to set out half the food to start and replenish as needed. It might lead to more dishes, but it will help keep your family and any guests healthy.
For food that is stored, Bouman said, the thing to remember is the order of storage.
“You want to have ready to eat food always on top, so nothing else can drip on there, then seafood, then meats, then poultry all the way on the bottom,” Bouman said. “That’s the trickiest one with the most amount of chances of pathogens, so you want to keep that all the way on the bottom.”