Knowing how to handle meat and food the right way can help you "keep it safe" when it comes to buying, preparing, and safely serving it to your family. Here are some important tips to remember:

AT THE STORE
Always buy your cold meat and food last. Take food home and refrigerate fast.

• Buy meat and food before the "use-by" date on the package.
• Make sure that meat and perishable foods are cold and that frozen foods and meat are solid when you buy them.
• Don’t buy packages that are torn, cracked, dented, or bulging.
• Take perishable foods home and refrigerate right away. Never leave food in a hot car.
• Prevent cross contamination between raw and never cooked items, e.g. lettuce.

• Keep your refrigerator at 40° F or below; freezer at 0°F.
• Put cold meat, poultry, or fish in a plastic bag before refrigerating so it won’t drip on other refrigerated foods.
• Freeze meat, poultry, or fish right away if you won’t use it within one or two days.

• Wash hands with hot water and soap before and after handling meat or other food.
• Thaw foods in the refrigerator or microwave, not on the kitchen counter.
• If you use a microwave to thaw foods, cook them immediately.
• Cut meat, poultry, and fish on a different cutting board than other fresh foods like vegetables.

• Use a meat thermometer to determine when meat or poultry is thoroughly cooked.
• Use this guide to internal cooking temperatures to determine when meat or poultry is ready to serve:
  

• Serve cooked food on a clean plate and use clean utensils. Never use the same unwashed plate that you used to thaw the meat to serve that food.
• Use separate utensils for each dish.
• Never leave cooked foods out on the table or counter for more than two hours.

• Put leftovers in the refrigerator or within two hours after serving.
• Reheat leftovers until the middle is hot before serving.