Food Safety

Make Sure Your Food is Handled with Care

At Skip's Meat Market, we always put safety first, and we want to make sure that your food is always prepared with safety in mind. When cooking, we make sure to always follow our safety basics: clean, separate, cook, and chill. Our family-owned and operated shop is here to help you with your food preparation. Contact us for more information.

Ask Us About It

We can address a number of safety concerns: storage, thawing, preparation, cooking times, serving temperatures, leftovers, cold storage

We're here to keep you safe

If you're looking for the most thorough safety guidelines, our experts are here to help. With years of experience, licensed and insured services, and competitive prices, we're the butcher shop to choose.

Skip's Always Puts Food Safety First!

Safe steps in food handling, cooking, and storage are essential in preventing foodborne illness. You can't see, smell, or taste harmful bacteria that may cause illness.

Keep Food Safe! Food Safety Basics

In every step of food preparation, follow the four Fight BAC!® guidelines to keep food safe:

Clean - Wash hands and surfaces often | Separate - Don't cross-contaminate | Cook - Cook to proper temperatures, checking with a food thermometer | Chill - Refrigerate promptly

Shopping

Purchase refrigerated or frozen items after selecting your nonperishables.

Never choose meat or poultry in packaging that is torn or leaking.

Do not buy food past "Sell-By," "Use-By," or other expiration dates.

Storage

Always refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (1 hour when the temperature is above 90°F). Check the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer with an appliance thermometer. The refrigerator should be at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F or below.

Cook or freeze fresh poultry, fish, ground meats, and variety meats within 2 days; other beef, veal, lamb, or pork, within 3 to 5 days. Perishable food such as meat and poultry should be wrapped securely to maintain quality and to prevent meat juices from getting onto other food. To maintain quality when freezing meat and poultry in its original package, wrap the package again with foil or plastic wrap that is recommended for the freezer.

In general, high-acid canned food such as tomatoes, grapefruit, and pineapple can be stored unopened on the shelf for 12 to 18 months. Low-acid canned food such as meat, poultry, fish, and most vegetables will keep 2 to 5 years-if the unopened can remains in good condition and has been stored in a cool, clean, and dry place. Discard cans that are dented, leaking, bulging, or rusted.

Thawing

Refrigerator - The refrigerator allows slow, safe thawing. Make sure thawing meat and poultry juices do not drip onto other food.

Cold Water - For faster thawing, place food in a leak-proof plastic bag. Submerge in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook immediately after thawing.

Microwave - Cook meat and poultry immediately after microwave thawing.

Preparation

Always wash hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds before and after handling food.

Don't cross-contaminate. Keep raw meat, poultry, fish, and their juices away from other food. After cutting raw meats, wash cutting board, knife, and counter tops with hot, soapy water.

Marinate meat and poultry in a covered dish in the refrigerator.

Sanitize cutting boards by using a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water.

Cooking

Cook foods to the recommended safe minimum internal temperatures listed below. Check temperatures with a food thermometer. Learn more about using food thermometers on the FSIS Web site or by calling the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline.

FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart

Serving

Hot food should be held at 140°F or warmer. Cold food should be held at 40°F or colder. When serving food at a buffet, keep hot food hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays. Keep cold food cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice or use small serving trays and replace them often. Use a food thermometer to check hot and cold holding temperatures. Perishable food should not be left out more than 2 hours at room temperature (1 hour when the temperature is above 90°F).

Leftovers

Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature was above 90°F). Place food into shallow containers and immediately put in the refrigerator or freezer for rapid cooling. Use most cooked leftovers within 3 to 4 days. (See chart.)

Refreezing

Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before refreezing.

Cold Storage Chart

These storage times will help keep refrigerated (40°F) food from spoiling or becoming dangerous to eat. Because freezing at 0°F or below (not 32°F) keeps food safe indefinitely, recommended freezer storage times are for quality only. Use an appliance thermometer to monitor storage temperatures in the refrigerator and freezer. For more specific information or for foods not listed here, contact the USDA Meat & Poultry Hotline or check the FSIS Web site.

* Because freezing at 0°F keeps food safe indefinitely, recommended storage times are for quality only.

FSIS Storage Times For Refrigerated Foods