Tips for eating safely at home

Students and their families are most likely eating at home these days, which might give rise to questions about what’s safe to eat and what isn’t. 

Tim Tenon, general manager of Dining Services at Roanoke College, says that while it hasn’t been proven that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) can spread through food, students should still take proper precautions as they prepare food on their own.

“We still encourage you to make sure that you are cooking food to the proper temperatures and reheating food to 165 degrees,” Tenon says. “If bringing food home from an outside source, wash your hands, transfer to clean containers, and as always, wash your hands before, during and after cooking.”

Tenon also warns against hoarding food from grocery stores. People should only be buying what they need, because many others out there also need to feed their families.

Tenon wanted to pass along information to students about general food safety and how to eat properly during this time. He pointed to these tips from seriouseats.com.

A few highlights:

Is it safer to buy groceries or to order food from restaurants?
The main risk factor is proximity to other people. Picking up food is a higher risk than having it delivered or cooking it yourself. Still, there are other risks associated with cooking at home. It’s a good idea to treat anything that comes into your home from outside (food, mail or other people) as potentially contaminated. Wash your hands after bringing it home, transfer to clean containers and/or sanitize packaging when possible and wash your hands before, during and after cooking.

How do I sterilize food?

• Heat liquids like soups, stews and sauces to a brief simmer, making sure to stir frequently so that it heats evenly throughout.
• Microwave vegetables, pasta, thick purées like mashed potatoes, and meat until piping hot — so hot that you’d worry about burning your mouth. For most microwaves, that means about 90 seconds per serving on high heat..
• For loose bite-sized items like short pasta shapes, loose vegetables, or stir-fries, heat them on a pan until they maintain a steady sizzle as you stir them around the pan. A minute or two in a preheated skillet is sufficient for a couple of servings.
• To reheat cutlets, casseroles, or bread in the oven, preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C), place the food on an oven-safe tray with shallow sides (high sides can block hot air from circulating), and heat until the surface of the food is too hot to touch for more than an instant.
• If you want to be extra-careful, use a digital thermometer to check the temperature of your food inside and out before serving or eating.

What’s the safest way to shop at grocery stores?

• Go at off-peak hours to avoid crowds. 
• Keep your distance in line. 
• Overfill your prescriptions if possible. 
• Using the self-checkout lane reduces your contact with other people, but it also increases interaction with secondary potential infection points, like the touchscreen display and the bar code scanner. On balance, it’s probably best to avoid person-to-person contact over surface contact and stick with the self-checkout. If you do go with a cashier, bag your own groceries rather than having them handled by another person any longer than necessary.
• Wash your hands when you get home.

If you have specific questions about food safety or cooking in general, you can contact Chef Matt at phillips@roanoke.edu.