16130 Food Safety Guidelines

It is important for you to eat a healthy and balanced diet to help minimize complications and recover from your transplant. Following food safety recommendations is important to help decrease consumption of disease-causing bacteria that can spoil foods and lead to illnesses. It is important to know and practice safe food-handling behaviors to help reduce your risk of getting sick from contaminated food. The risk posed depends on where food comes from and how it is processed, stored, and prepared.

Your Stem Cell Transplant (SCT) doctor will let you know when you no longer need to follow the guidelines.

Please ask a dietitian if you have any questions about the information listed below.

Four Steps to Food Safety

1.     Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often

Germs can spread throughout the kitchen and get onto cutting boards, utensils, counter tops, and food. To keep your hands and surfaces clean, be sure to:

• Wash hands in warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.
• Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water; rinse and air dry or pat dry with clean paper towels.
• Remember to clean lids of canned goods before opening. Wash the can opener after each use.
• If you use a blender, wash it well after each use.

 2.     Separate: Prevent cross-contamination

Cross contamination occurs when germs are spread from one food product to another. This can occur when handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs. Keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods.

• Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs away from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags, and your refrigerator.
• Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a different one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood.
• Never place cooked food on a plate that held raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs without first washing the plate with hot soapy water.
• Do not reuse marinades used on raw foods unless you bring them to a boil first.

 3.     Cook: Cook to proper temperatures

Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of cooked foods. Insert thermometer into the thickest part of the food to get an accurate temperature. Check the internal temperature in several places to make sure items are cooked all the way through. Test your thermometer. When placed in ice cold water it should read 32 degrees F.

Minimum safe cooking temperatures

**Hold food at safe temperatures: Hot food above 140 degrees F and cold food below 40 degrees F

4.    Chill: Refrigerate promptly

Cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria. Keeping a constant refrigerator temperature of 40 degrees F or below is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk of foodborne illness. Use an appliance thermometer to be sure the refrigerator temperature is consistently below 40 degrees F or below and the freezer temperature is 0 degrees F or below. To chill foods properly:

• Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood within 2 hours of purchasing or cooking. Refrigerate within 1 hour if the temperature outside is above 90 degrees F.
• Thaw foods properly, in the refrigerator or microwave; not at room temperature.
• Throw away all prepared food after 72 hours (3 days). Date refrigerated foods to keep track.

At the grocery store:

• Never buy food that is displayed in unsafe or unclean conditions
• When purchasing canned goods, make sure that they are free of dents, cracks, or bulging lids
• Put foods that need refrigeration in your grocery cart last
• Bring a cooler to transport cold foods from the store to your refrigerator
• Carefully read food labels while in the store to make sure food is not past its “sell by” date
  • A “sell by” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires
  • A “use by” date is the last date suggested for the use of the product while at top quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.

Eating out:

It is recommended that you do not eat out until your SCT doctor tells you it is safe to do so; however, if you do eat out, please follow the guidelines below:

• Look to make sure the restaurant is clean.
• Avoid buffets, which may contain undercooked foods or foods that have been at room temperature too long. Order from a menu to minimize your risk.
• Ask how foods have been cooked. If the server does not know the answer, ask to speak to the chef to be sure your food has been cooked all the way through. Do not eat raw meat or fish, even in small amounts.
• Ask for fresh vegetables and fruits to be washed with clean, running water. If they are not washed properly, do not eat them.
• If you plan to save leftovers to eat at a later time, refrigerate within 2 hours after purchase or delivery. Make sure they are eaten within 3 days.

Common Foods: Select the Low Risk () options.