JAKARTA - Chicken is a favorite of many people. The reason is simple, because chicken can be processed into a variety of delicious dishes. In addition, the price of chicken meat is not so expensive when compared to beef.
However, because it can contain several types of bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli, improperly storing chicken can cause congenital food diseases. Launching Southern Living, Friday, September 30, to help avoid it and keep chicken meat in the best shape, a group of food safety experts explained 6 things should not be done when storing chicken meat.
To stop chickens from forming harmful bacteria, it is very important to store raw meat at a cold temperature of about 4 degrees Celsius or below. Allowing raw chickens at room temperature can cause bacteria to reproduce in the meat. For this reason, on the way home, when you go home to buy meat, put the meat into your bag or cooling box.
Putting chicken meat in the refrigerator should not be arbitrary. Kimberly Baker, Ph.D., director of the Clemson University's University Extension System and Food Safety Program, suggested not to store chicken meat near raw food or other ready-to-eat food in the refrigerator. This is to prevent water that seeps on the chicken into other foods. So it doesn't transfer pathogens.
If the contaminated food is not handled properly and cooked below the temperature of 73 degrees Celsius, then people who eat the food can get sick. The prevention, you can wrap the chicken tightly in plastic. Then place it on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator to prevent droplets and contamination.
Like many other proteins, raw chickens are easily damaged. So it's best to avoid leaving them in the refrigerator for too long before cooking. Lisa Yakas, a microbiologist and senior calculation manager at NSF International stated that raw chicken must be cooked in no more than two days.
It is important to process fresh chicken meat within one to two days after being stored in a refrigerator with a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius or below. Keeping the chicken for too long can cause meat to damage or not safe to eat. If you want to take longer, place the chicken in the freezer. Meat can last up to 9 months, explained Yakas.
Listening to chicken meat in the freezer is the right thing. However, placing large amounts of chicken in one container can make it difficult for you. When you want to take just a few pieces to process later. Like it or not, you need to remove all chicken pieces to disburse. While the need is only a few pieces.
The chef's educator from The Institute of Culinary Education, Christopher Arturo suggests freezing the chicken in some small containers. So you can only remove what is needed. In addition, the smaller and the smaller the wrapped chicken, the faster the freezing process will be.
The remaining cooked chicken is also vulnerable to bacteria breeding. So, don't put the cooked chicken on the table too long before it is put in the refrigerator.
When placed on the table, the room temperature becomes the perfect condition for bacterial growth. For this reason, after completing consumption, it is mandatory to immediately put the chicken meat back into the refrigerator. Chicken that has been consumed can only be placed in room temperature for a maximum of two hours.
Just like raw chickens that should not be stored in the refrigerator for more than a few days, it would be nice if you also limited the amount of time to put the remaining cooked chicken in the refrigerator for re-use.
"When you move the rest of the food into the refrigerator, put the cover on for the first few hours so that the cold air can cool it quickly. Then close tightly," said Chris flow, Vice President of Food Security for Steritech.
"Colded remaining items must be consumed or disposed of in three to four days. Otherwise, you can freeze them in an airtight container and store them for three to four months," explains banyaks.
Those are tips that you can do to prevent mistakes in storing chicken meat.
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