8
• Keep the time between buying chille foo an
placing it in your fri ge as short as possible. Tests
showe that the temperature of 1 litre of orange
juice rose to 22°C in an hour between the
supermarket an home. It then took 11 hours to
get own to 7°C in the refrigerator.
• Keep the refrigerator oor close as much as
possible.
• Do not push foo together too much, try to allow
air to circulate aroun each item.
• Cool cooke foo as quickly as possible but o
NOT place in the refrigerator until cool. (Leave
foo in a cool place in or er that it can then be
put in the refrigerator as soon as possible).
• Do NOT mix raw an cooke meat, they must be
in separate containers. Take care not to let the
meat juices rip onto other foo . If the meat oes
rip, remove everything an clean thoroughly.
• Do not store foo uncovere .
• The best way to efrost foo is to put it in the
refrigerator to thaw slowly.
• Remove suspect foo from your refrigerator an
clean (refer to “Maintenance an Cleaning).
• Never allow spillages to ry an har en.
• Ensure that foo place in the freezer is ate
an labelle an use in ate or er to ensure
that foo is consume at its best.
• It is important that foo is use before its “best
before” ate.
• Store eggs in the egg rack provi e in the
refrigerator oor. Discar any broken or chippe
eggs.
• Regularly check the refrigerator oor seal to
ensure that it is clean an free from ebris.
• Always wash your han s with soapy water an
ry them with a clean towel before han ling foo .
• Keep work surfaces clean an avoi cross
contamination by not using the same work
surface or knife, without washing them thoroughly
in between.
• The fresh foo s to be frozen must be fresh an of
the best quality.
• The size of each pack shoul be small enough to
ensure that it is use in one go . Small packs
freeze more quickly an uniformly an give better
results.
• Frozen foo , once thawe , must not be refrozen.
Lean foo keeps better an longer than fatty foo ,
salt re uces the storage time.
• Wrap the foo in polythene or aluminium freezing
bags or foil so that they a here to the foo an
provi e an airtight seal .
• Packaging which is swollen or has traces of
refrozen water roplets on the pack coul in icate
that the pro uct has not been kept at a suitable
temperature an that it may have lost its original
quality. Partially thawe foo must not be
refrozen, it must be consume within 24 hours.
Never excee the storage times in icate .
• Never place hot foo , bottles or cans of fizzy rink
in the freezer as they may explo e. Containers
with a li must not be fille to the brim.
• Do not open the oor or place extra fresh foo in
the freezer next to foo which is alrea y frozen as
this coul cause the temperature of the frozen
foo to rise an its quality an storage life to
re uce .
• The symbols on the rawers show ifferent types
of frozen goo s.
The numbers in icate storage times in months for
the appropriate types of frozen goo s. Whether
the upper or lower value of the in icate storage
time is vali epen s on the quality of the foo s
an pre-treating before freezing.
HEALTH AND SAFETY GUIDELINES
Because o consumer demand, preservatives have been removed rom many pre-prepared oods. This
together with the changes in shopping habits to a once-a-week shop, mean that sa e handling and
storage o ood is even more important than ever.
The ollowing tips should help you to ensure that the ood in your home is in as per ect condition as
possible.