Food Safety Week 2023 takes places from 11-18 November with the theme being ‘Food safety – dollars and sense’ which is designed to educate consumers about how to manage the increased cost of living without compromising food safety and enhance your existing food safety processes.
Statisticaly there are an estimated 4.67 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that result in 47,900 hospitalisations, 38 deaths and cost the economy $2.1 billion. Experts are concerned that the cost of living crisis may result in consumers cutting corners when it comes to food safety and have released the following useful tips to stay food safe when cutting back to save money:
- Buy yourself a meat thermometer and use it, it doesn’t have to be a fancy digital version (although they can be more effective) however, one with a dial can be just as effective.
- If you are moving to cheaper cuts of meat such as mince, sausages, rolled roasts, liver and other offal and chicken, remember they need to be cooked to at least 75°C in the centre (using that meat thermometer).
- Beef, lamb, kangaroo in whole cuts like chops, steaks, pieces and roasts at least 63°C (medium rare) and leave to rest 3 to 5 minutes. Pork steaks and pieces to 70°C and roasts to between 70°C and 75°C and leave to rest 3 to 5 minutes.
- Don’t be tempted to forage for wild food as a saving, mushrooms and other plants can be toxic and wild foods can be contaminated by animal faeces.
- Don’t purchase food from unknown sources such as on social media, make sure they are a legal source.
- If you need support contact a food charity such as OzHarvest, Second Bite, or FoodBank, never ‘Dumpster dive’ for discarded food which is likely to be contaminated or may have been discarded due to a food recall.
Food Safety Week 2023 will highlight tips to assist consumers in adapting to the increasing cost of living by making savings through reducing food waste and growing their own food while ensuring the food eaten remains safe.
The Food Safety Information Council is running the Food Safety Week 2023 campaign across digital channels and would love for you to get involved click here to read all about it.
Reminder: It is important for baking businesses to be up-to-date and compliant with Food Safety Standards to ensure that their customers are receiving food that is safe to consume. If you’re unsure whether your baking business is compliant with food safety standards please contact your local council.