The warm weather has finally arrived and barbeque season is already well underway, so Caerphilly County Borough Council is keen to remind everyone about the importance of good food hygiene.
To mark Food Safety Week – June 7-13 – the council is reminding people that good food hygiene is particularly important during the summer months, when levels of food poisoning soar. There are around 120,000 extra cases of illness recorded across the UK when the weather is warmest.
Cllr Lyn Ackerman said: “Food poisoning is a miserable experience and is easily avoided. Just following simple steps in the kitchen can mean you don’t become another food poisoning casualty. To help people learn more about this, and the simple things they can do to keep themselves and their families safe, we will be promoting safety messages to schools, sheltered housing, leisure centres and residential homes throughout the borough.”
Maria Pinch, Environmental Health Officer for food safety at Caerphilly County Borough Council said, “Last year around 324 people in the Caerphilly area were ill from food poisoning, of which 261 were from the organism called Campylobacter which is linked to under-cooked poultry. We expect to see the number of cases increasing as the weather gets warmer and barbeques and eating outside become more frequent”.
“People should not worry unduly about food poisoning as there are some simple common sense steps people can take to avoid getting ill. Just storing, handling and cooking food properly will minimise the risk.”
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advises that following simple principles will help people to keep food safe. Bob Martin, a food safety expert at the FSA, said, “Proper cooking will kill food bugs. It’s especially important to make sure poultry; pork, burgers and sausages are cooked all the way through. If there’s any pink meat or the juices have any pink or red in them, germs could be lurking! Check your food is steaming hot all the way through before serving.
“Avoiding cross-contamination is also extremely important, that is preventing bacteria from spreading between foods and from contaminated surfaces or utensils.”
