13 Unhealthy Kitchen Habits to Break

Breaking Bad Habits
We often think those small bad habits in the kitchen are no big deal. But it’s the little things that can lead to foodborne illness. In order to keep you and your family healthy, here are 13 less-than-squeaky-clean practices worth quitting.

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Defrosting Meat & Poultry on the Countertop
Harmful microorganisms multiply quickly at room temperature. Leaving meat and poultry to defrost on the countertop overnight allows millions — or even billions — of microorganisms to flourish. Even cooking cannot destroy all these bad boys.

The Solution: Defrost meat in the refrigerator overnight. For larger meats, like a whole chicken or turkey, you may need a little advanced planning and thaw time of 1-2 days.

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Forgetting to Wash Reusable Grocery Bags
A survey conducted by the Home Food Safety program found that 85 percent of Americans aren’t washing their reusable grocery bags. The problem: Raw foods, including meat, chicken and eggs, leave potentially harmful bacteria inside those totes. And those bacteria can be transferred to produce if the same bag is reused without being cleaned.

The Solution: Wash reusable bags frequently. Cloth bags can be tossed into the washing machine or cleaned by hand with soap and warm water. Wipe down plastic-coated bags with antibacterial spray or wipes.

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Rinsing Meat in the Sink
You may think you’re decreasing bacteria on meat or poultry by rinsing it before cooking. But that water splashes everywhere — including on dishes in the sink and on countertops — contaminating everything.

The Solution: According to USDA guidelines, it’s best never to rinse meat and poultry. Instead, cook them to the proper minimum temperature to ensure that any harmful bacteria are destroyed.

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Storing Raw Meat Over Fresh Produce
Raw meat, chicken, or fish can drip onto fresh fruits and vegetable or other ready-to-eat foods stored below it. This can potentially lead to illness or whatever microorganism just dripped onto the food, especially if you aren’t cooking the foods.

The Solution: Store raw meat, chicken, or fish at the bottom of your fridge and keep them in a shallow pan in case they drip.

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Tasting Food to Check Freshness
Using smell or sight to check if a food is good is usually enough. Some folks, however, take the extra step and give it a taste. If the food isn’t okay, then you could be ingesting harmful microorganisms and getting yourself sick.

The Solution: Use your senses other than taste to check for freshness. If you’re still in doubt, toss it out!

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Using Contaminated Sponges
Many folks clean their dirty dishes with the same sponge they wipe up spills and then clean their counter top. Those sponges are a vehicle from transferring bacteria from one surface to the other. The cleanliness of these sponges is oftentimes overlooked. Think about when was the last time you cleaned your sponge?!

The Solution: Microwaving sponges for 2 minutes can destroy more than 99% of germs. When microwaving, be sure the sponge is wet and allow the sponge to cool before removing from the microwave. You can also run sponges through your dishwasher.

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Only Using One Cutting Board
Cutting raw meat, chicken or fish on your cutting board and then using the same cutting board to slice fresh fruits or vegetables can lead to illness. There is a high chance that you are transferring disease-causing microorganisms from the raw meats to the fresh produce.