The most secure place to retailer uncooked poultry is on the backside of your fridge, which prevents uncooked rooster juice from dripping onto produce or different meals beneath. If storing your rooster on the backside of your fridge is not an possibility, hold packages of uncooked rooster in a big bowl, meals storage container, or sheet pan to catch potential leaks and spills.
You’ve simply finished your weekly grocery purchasing. You’re placing groceries away, and out of behavior, you set your vegetables and fruit within the crisper drawer, milk and different drinks within the door, and chuck a bundle of rooster thighs onto the center shelf of your fridge.
Fine and dandy, proper? Well, not likely: Storing poultry above produce or different meals (particularly ready-to-eat meals that will not be heated) poses a critical meals security danger, as rooster juices may drip down beneath, rising the danger of meals poisoning through pathogens similar to Salmonella and Campylobacter. It goes in opposition to the whole lot I used to be taught in culinary faculty whereas learning for the ServSafe meals security certification: Never retailer uncooked poultry above uncooked produce or ready-made meals.
Surprisingly, many dwelling cooks are unaware of this rule. When I go to family and friends, I virtually all the time see a bundle or two of uncooked rooster sitting in the course of their fridge, hanging out above berries they plan to stir into their yogurt or oatmeal. According to ServSafe tips, the most secure option to retailer meals in your fridge is to prepare it on cabinets based mostly on the temperature the meals must be held to be protected for consumption.
Based on Servsafe guidelines, your fridge ought to be organized from prime to backside as follows: Prepared meals, similar to potato salad, cooked greens, or leftovers, ought to be positioned on the very prime; then uncooked seafood, complete cuts of beef and pork, floor meat and fish; and eventually, complete and floor uncooked poultry. This storage technique prevents cross-contamination, since any leaks from the uncooked meals above will solely fall onto meals that should be cooked to increased, bacteria-killing temperatures. In quick, the upper the temperature a meals should be cooked to for security, the decrease it ought to be saved.
ServSafe’s suggestion does not actually account for recent produce. That’s seemingly as a result of a restaurant normally has a separate part of the walk-in fridge or a wholly totally different fridge devoted to provide. Because that is not an possibility for many dwelling cooks, I like to recommend protecting produce not within the crisper drawer—which is commonly really helpful—however subsequent to the cooked meals above any uncooked poultry or meat. I’ve three crisper drawers: two subsequent to at least one one other, and one other immediately on prime. I hold produce within the prime drawer, cheeses, cured meats, and eggs in one of many decrease drawers, and reserve one other one of many decrease drawers for uncooked poultry and different uncooked proteins.
If you do not really feel like rearranging your fridge, you possibly can restrict your danger of foodborne sickness by protecting packages of uncooked poultry in a big bowl or meals storage container or setting it on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any potential drips. I like to recommend storing uncooked meat and seafood this manner as properly. And, in fact, it is essential to observe different meals security practices: Keep a fridge thermometer to make sure the equipment is sufficiently chilly (at or beneath 40°F/4.4°C), wash your arms with cleaning soap and water after dealing with uncooked meat and poultry, and cook dinner meat, seafood, and poultry to protected temperatures.
Rearranging your fridge or grabbing a container to catch drips is a small change, however one that may spare you from the gut-wrenching expertise of meals poisoning. So the following time you set away your rooster, place it on the backside of your fridge—or hold it contained.
