De-Bug Your Dinner

Worried about your family contracting food-borne illnesses? We suggest these food shopping strategies that'll keep your family away from them.

POULTRY

If you're buying fresh chicken, it calls for extra caution. And if it's frozen, if the package isn't cold to the touch, find one that is. (Better yet, go to another shop that stores their food better!) Next, check the hue of the hen. In fresh chicken, a colour more brown than pink signifies the bacterial and chemical changes wrought by poor refrigeration.

SHELLFISH

Keep your shellfish platter tasting great in more ways than one. And that means, keeping the bacteria out! Take extra care when you go out and eat raw oysters. In fact, when eating raw oysters at restaurants, you're playing a game with lady luck. If you like to play safe, try and avoid it altogether. One great meal isn't worth a week or two of bad pain, a tummy ache and fever.

SEAFOOD

Here's your chance to play private detective. When you head to the market to stock up on your weekly dose of fish, look for fish positioned belly down in the display case - when fish is lying on its side, more surface area is exposed to bacteria that might breed underneath as the ice starts to melt and the juices begin to pool. As for the skin - the shinier, the better; if it's dull, avoid. If you want a truer test poke the fish. If the flesh bounces back to shape back rather than staying indented, it's good for dinner!

RAW MILK

If you buy your milk in tetrapacks, make sure that the package isn't puffy and bulbous-looking. And if it's fresh milk that you get every morning, make sure that you boil the same as soon as you get home and then refrigerate it. This can store for around 6 to 7 days. And if it isn't over after those many days, it's in your best interests to throw the milk out.

EGGS

Buy eggs that aren't cracked on the outside, and that aren't stored out in the daytime heat. That only furthers the chance that salmonella could have taken hold.

PRODUCE

Pass on fruits that look bruised or damaged in any way. They might look just a bit bruised on the outside, but you'd never know in what condition the inside of the fruit might be in.

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