Food for Thought Friday: Food Safety
Some of the most frequent questions I receive involve food/nutrition for Hudson. This encouraged me to start Food for Thought Fridays. Each Friday, I will cover various topics as they relate to food, nutrition and health.
Food For Thought:
Food & Package Safety
Based on the current state of the world, I found it important to focus on something we can all benefit from. The truth is, we don't have the access to every type of food we would like right now, so there is no point in telling you to purchase specific foods. The best thing to do is focus on how we can ensure our food and packaging is as safe as possible.
I have included a link to a YouTube video by Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen. In the video, he details techniques we can all use to keep ourselves as safe as possible. Please watch the video so you can learn important information and tips to keep you and your family as healthy as possible.
Spoiler: Your shopping cart is not the only thing that needs to be cleaned!
Important Information as it relates to the video:
(images courtesy of USA Today)
Plastic: COVID-19 can live on plastic for up to 72 hrs. That means if anyone within 3 days was infected and touched items you purchased such as food wrapped in plastic, plastic bottles, gallons of milk, produce containers or snack bags, they could potentially infect someone who touches it. This also includes the plastic shopping bags food is carried in!
Steel/Aluminum: Next time you pick up a can of something, grab a handle or touch a faucet, know that COVID-19 can live for up to 72 hours on steel/aluminum.
Cardboard: It has been shown that the COVID-19 virus can live for 24 hours on cardboard. This includes boxes delivered to your home, cereal/snack boxes, half galloon milk containers, frozen pizza or any other product containing cardboard. Try either leaving packages outside for 24 hours or open packages outside, leaving the cardboard outside and immediately washing your hands.
Glass: Glass can have the living COVID-19 virus for up to 96 hours on it. That means if anyone infected touches an item within a 4 day time span, you run the risk of infection. This includes milk containers, individual beverages or food in glass containers (think pickles or pickled items).
These tips also apply to packages ordered and delivered from other retailers. People who routinely receive subscription boxes, meal delivery, Amazon delivery, etc... need to take the above precautions as well.
Just remember...
When in doubt, wash your hands and change your clothes.
Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; Stanford University; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Health Organization; National Center for Biotechnology Information; Department of Energy, National Accelerator Laboratory
Sending love to all and stay well,
The Hills