These Halloween food safety tips from Fight Bac will help you have a happy and safe holiday. The tips cover trick-or-treating safety and how to host a healthy party.
When your kids go out trick-or-treating, make sure they know they should not eat any candy they receive until they get home and you can check it. Look for rips or tears or pinholes in the wrapping. Throw away any homemade candy or candy that looks different or strange. And feed your kids dinner before they go out so they are less likely to want to snack on the way.
If you are having a Halloween party, make sure that all perishable foods are chilled until serving time. Those foods include cheese platters, cut fruit, tossed salads, finger sandwiches, cold pasta dishes, any food with meat, poultry, or seafood, and cream pies or cakes with whipped cream and cream cheese frostings. The danger zone for foods is 40°F to 140°F. In that temperature range bacteria can double every 20 minutes.
Hot foods should be kept hot. Use heated serving trays or crockpots to keep food at the correct serving temperatures. And cold foods should be kept cold. Fill lids with ice and place trays of food no top. And put salads in larger bowls of ice.
Don’t pile food onto a large platter. Use smaller platters so you can rotate them out with fresh food every two hours. Two hours is the time limit where food can be out of refrigeration or the oven and still be safe.
When you are making treats, do not eat or taste any batters or doughs that contain raw egg or uncooked flour. Those ingredients can be contaminated with pathogens like E. coli and Salmonella. And also do not serve unpasteurized juice or cider, because it can be contaminated as well.
And remind adults and kids to wash their hands before and after eating to help prevent illness.
Bobbing for apples is problematic because the water will be contaminated from people sticking their faces ion it. Instead, cut out apples from red construction paper and writing an activity on each apple. Attach a paper clip to each apple. Put them into a large basket, attach a large magnet to a string and let kids “bob” with their magnet and then do the activity written on the apple.
And if you are serving caramel or candy apples, be sure to keep them refrigerated. There is a history of Listeria monocytogenes contamination with that product.
Have a great time with these Halloween food safety tips!
