People are reminded to pay close attention to food safety during the summer festive season and avoid food poisoning.

It is important for people to practice safe food handling and good hygiene habits, particularly during summer as temperatures increase and people gather to share food and drinks.

There are many ways for food to be contaminated, especially when more people are in the kitchen and more food is being prepared than at other times of the year.

The average home kitchen is not designed for large volumes of cooking, so good hygiene practices and planning are essential to ensure food safety.

Important food safety tips include:

• Wash your hands before preparing food and after handling raw meats, going to the toilet or doing any other activity that may cause contamination
  
• Prepare and store raw meat separately from cooked foods such as salad and cooked chicken. Raw meat should be stored on a shelf seperately from ready to eat foods in the fridge or in a sealed container whenever possible. Items such as tongs, chopping boards and knifes used on raw meats should be washed before being used to handle ready to eat foods
  
• Store food at 5°C or below, or at 60°C or above. Food poisoning bacteria will start to multiply rapidly when chilled food is heated to temperatures above 5°C and will stop multiplying when food reaches 60°C. Place food to cool in the fridge as soon as it stops steaming
  
• Refrigerate leftovers immediately after a meal and keep for a maximum of three days. If reheating make sure the food is reheated until steaming hot
  
• Have plenty of fridge and freezer space as overloading will reduce cooling efficiency. Low risk items such as cool drinks, alcohol and water can be kept in eskies to free up refrigerator space
  
• Cool food when outdoors. When refrigeration is not available the easiest was to keep risky foods cool when transporting or storing them is to use portable car fridges, insulated cool/hot boxes or eskies with plenty of ice.
  
• Defrost frozen food in the fridge or microwave. Defrosting food on the bench top can be unsafe, and increase bacteria growth in foods as they defrost. 
  
• Be extra careful with seafood. Ask for your purchase to be packed with ice and transport it home in a cooler and place in the fridge immediately
  
• Cook raw meats thoroughly. Raw meats such as chicken and minced meat products should be cooked thoroughly, make sure the juices run clear, not pink after cooking
  
• Portion food before cooling. For example slice meats, cut large poultry into smaller portions and place liquid foods such as casseroles in shallow containers (no more than 5cm deep)
  
• Cloth the Christmas Ham. A Christmas ham will keep several weeks with proper handling by removing it from its plastic wrap, covering it with a clean cloth soaked in water and vinegar so it does not dry out and store it in the fridge at or below 5 ºC

It is also important to take extra care when cooking or preparing food in unfamiliar surroundings such as parks or at other people’s houses.

Practicing these simple rules will ensure that no one has to suffer from food poisoning over the holiday period.

For more information or advice on food safety issues, the community are advised to contact their local council environmental health services.

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