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Enter the terms you wish to search for. Welcome to Safe Eats, your food-by-food guide to selecting, preparing, and handling foods safely throughout your pregnancy and beyond! Protein in meat, poultry, and seafood is an important nutrient in your diet, but it can also be an ideal environment for some harmful bacteria. Here’s how to keep harmful bacteria at bay and your family safe. Wash hands thoroughly with warm water and soap before and after handling raw meat, poultry, and seafood. Kitchen countertops that come in contact with raw meat, poultry, and seafood can be sanitized using a kitchen sanitizer. One teaspoon of liquid chlorine bleach per quart of clean water can also be used to sanitize surfaces.

Leave the bleach solution on the surface for about 10 minutes to be effective. S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E Improper handling of raw meat, poultry, and seafood can set the stage for cross-contamination – the spread of bacteria from foods, hands, utensils, and food preparation surfaces to another food. Separate raw meat, poultry, and seafood from ready-to-eat foods in your grocery shopping cart, refrigerator, and while preparing and handling foods at home. Also, consider placing these raw foods inside plastic bags in your grocery shopping cart to keep the juices contained. To prevent juices from raw meat, poultry, or seafood from dripping onto other foods in the refrigerator, place these raw foods in sealed containers or sealable plastic bags.

If possible, use one cutting board for raw meat, poultry, and seafood and another one for fresh fruits and vegetables. If two cutting boards aren’t available, prepare fruits and vegetables first, and put them safely out of the way. Wash the cutting board thoroughly with soap and hot water. Then, prepare the raw meat, poultry, or seafood. Follow by washing the cutting board again.