Brown bag lunch safety can’t be ignored. One in six Americans gets food poisoning every year, so keep your meal chilled.
Food can go bad in two hours. In this podcast, Dan Clark gives some obvious and not-so-obvious tips on how to keep your stomach safe.
If you don’t have a fridge at work, arm yourself with insulated containers and ice packs. Listen for more lunch safety goodness.
TRANSCRIPT:
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intro music and effects
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Dan Clark:When you think workplace safety, you probably don’t think about your lunchbox. Food poisoning can put you out of commission for a while, though, so I have some tips to keep the food in your lunch from making you sick.
Hello again, I’m Dan Clark of The Safety Brief. This is where we talk about health and safety hazards in today’s demanding industrial and construction worksites.
Hey, here’s a frightening factoid: food can become unsafe in two hours at room temperature. If the temp is above 90° it can become unsafe in just one hour.
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STORING FOOD
* Keep your grub chilled at 40° or below. For a lunch that needs refrigeration, make it the night before so it can chill.
* For foods that need to be kept cold, such as meats, dairy and peeled and cut produce, put the lunch in the fridge at work. Duh. Okay. Well, if that’s not possible, though, use ice packs. Two is best.
* For foods that should be kept hot, such as soups or casseroles, use insulated containers. Try filling the container with boiling water for a few minutes before adding hot food to help maintain the heat.
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* Some foods are okay at room temperature, including breads, cereals, whole produce, and hard cheese.
* If you reheat foods in a microwave, make sure they get hot enough—at 165°.
A few other tips:
* Clean the lunchbox and containers daily.
* Clean the cutting board, where you prepare the food, between items. For example, no raw chicken and then vegetables on the same surface. I think we all know that one.
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But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates one in six Americans gets food poisoning annually.
So, be careful out there. Remember, I’ll say it again: food can become unsafe in two hours at room temperature.
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That’s it for this episode on Brown Bag Lunch Safety. Come back for more ways to stay safety compliant in today’s ever-changing landscape of safety requirements. I’m Dan Clark of The Safety Brief, a service of Creative Safety Supply. creativesafetysupply.com
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