Eggcellent Food Safety: Keeping Easter Fresh and Fun With the arrival of spring and warmer weather, many people start to think about the upcoming lineup of holidays, including Easter. Some people join friends or family for a big meal and hiding eggs, while others enjoy going out to eat for their celebrations. No matter the plan, make sure that all Easter foods follow the proper safety guidelines. Cooking at Home When cooking an Easter meal at home, the following are important things to remember: Keep it clean. Wash your hands before preparing food and in between different kitchen tasks. Use clean cooking equipment, including tools and countertops.Keep cold foods at an internal food temperature of 41 degrees F or less. Also, keep hot foods at an internal temperature of 140 degrees F or greater.Check temperatures with a food thermometer. Ensure that the thermometer works properly by putting it in ice or boiling water. It should read 32 degrees F and 212 degrees F, respectively.Make sure hot foods are fully cooked to the minimum recommended temperature for that food item. Find recommendations in the publication, HE-0733, There’s No Place Like Home for Food Safety.If foods cannot be kept at the correct internal temperatures, limit the time that you serve that food to 2 hours. After then, throw the food away. Do not keep them for leftovers.For more information about keeping it safe at home, see the Extension Brief, Host Guests, Not Bacteria: Simple Food Safety Tips For Entertaining at aces.edu. Easter Eggs It is fun to decorate and hide Easter eggs, but there are a few safety tips to keep in mind. Before decorating, inspect eggs for cracks and cleanliness.Store raw and boiled eggs in the refrigerator.When cooking, cooling, dyeing, and even hiding eggs, wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling the eggs.Consider using plastic eggs for hiding, particularly if the event will take more than 2 hours from the time the eggs would have left refrigeration.If you choose to hide boiled eggs, avoid hiding them in areas where they might come in contact with pets, wild animals, birds, reptiles, insects, lawn chemicals, or other potential sources of bacteria or other contaminants.Discard any cracked or dirty eggs, as well as ones that have been out of refrigeration for more than 2 hours.Rinse uncracked eggs that have been out of refrigeration for less than 2 hours, and put them back in the refrigerator to eat up to 1 week later.If you are using fresh-from-the-flock eggs, find recommendations on how to wash and care for them in the publication, ANR-2642, Enhancing Egg Quality & Safety in Small Flocks.Out to Eat In the restaurant, you should see one or more food safety training certificates on display as you enter the establishment. The Alabama Extension Food Safety and Quality team teaches one of these certifications, ServSafe for Managers. That certificate is usually white and blue. The ServSafe training is a comprehensive class where participants are taught and tested on microbiological, chemical, and physical contamination. To learn more about the scoring system, or to see what your favorite restaurant’s score is, visit www.alabamapublichealth.gov/foodscores/system.html.
