#food-safety

#food-safety

When it first reaches you, the idea of seafood is one of cleanliness. Maybe it's the associated freshness of the ocean, or its reputation as a healthy food. However, underneath upscale presentations or coastal dreaming, there is a complex and opaque part of the global food system at work, and it's not always at the front of mind when shopping for fish and seafood.

Nobody's perfect, and that's as true for restaurants as it is for people. Google your favorite restaurant right now and odds are you will find at least one review so negative it makes you wonder if the reviewer visited the same restaurant. Every restaurant gets bad reviews now and then, but something appears to be wrong at Sirloin Stockade, the eight-location steakhouse buffet that is routinely criticized for the same issues across four states.

She notes that Sprouts works closely with farmers near its stores, ones who commit to organic, non-GMO products and sustainable practices. That ensures the season's freshest produce, but when the product is packaged and "ready to eat," like bagged spinach, it must be thoroughly washed and labeled as such. That means you can literally eat it straight from the bag.

Regulations are becoming stricter, customers expect the highest quality, and even small mistakes can have serious consequences, from product recalls to delivery delays. Transporting liquids or powdered substances requires particular care, as contamination at any point can create major problems. A solution that has proven effective in practice is the use of certified ibc containers.

You can do everything you're supposed to do when it comes to keeping your cutting board clean, but all too often, unseen residue from different foods remains on the surface. Even juices can slip into the fibers of a wood cutting board. This not only means you're getting unwanted flavors mingling together, which can taint an entire meal; it also means the bacteria of various foods can cross-contaminate one another.

'A lot of people will typically just either put a fish on a plate and Saran-wrap it ... or they'll just Saran-wrap the fish,' Le explains. 'What I like to do is wrap my fish in a paper towel; it absorbs all the moisture.' Le adds that the moisture released by the fish will start to degrade it over time.

Vega Farms Inc., based in Dixon, issued the recall on Dec. 5 for its branded eggs sold in 12-count cartons and 30-count flats, CPDH officials said in a notice. The affected products, sold in the Sacramento and Davis areas, carry the handler code 2136 and include items supplied to restaurants and farmers markets. The recall covers cartons and flats marked with Sell By dates of Dec. 22, 2025, and earlier.

Deciding which snacks to pack when you're planning a road trip is essential. Hunger pangs can strike when the next rest stop is still miles away, so having something to snack on in the car is imperative. Even once you arrive at a rest stop, finding appropriate food for the whole family can be tricky and expensive. Planning ahead and packing snacks that you can eat when you stop is a good idea, too.

It's the focal point of any festive gathering - but the responsibility of providing Christmas dinner can trigger monumental stress. From securing the Brussels sprouts, crafting a timeplan and basting the turkey, it takes military-level planning. Even working out when to buy all of the ingredients can cause a headache - as you don't want any of the essentials to spoil before the 25th.

If you're in a place where the wind slices through your coat, the back porch can feel as reliably frigid as any stainless steel appliance, but food safety doesn't run on vibes. The USDA draws a very firm line at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Perishable foods need to stay at or below that temperature at all times. Anything warmer slips into the bacterial "danger zone," where unfriendly organisms like salmonella and staph begin multiplying more quickly.

Under a decades-old testing programme, the government checks around 3,000kg of food each year for traces of chemicals, purchased from a range of sources including supermarkets. Campaign group PAN UK, a non-profit organisation based in Brighton, then analyses the annual reports. This year, it found a total of 123 different chemicals in the 17 types of fruit and vegetables tested, including 42 pesticides with links to cancer.

The main thing to check for with vintage cookie cutters is rust. Cookie cutters can be made from a variety of materials, and while modern ones are often plastic, others might be aluminum, tin, or stainless steel. Neither one of those rusts easily, but aluminum can tarnish and stainless steel can rust if it has not been cleaned and stored properly.

The New Jersey-based company acknowledged violations in September 2025, admitting its Napoleon, Ohio canning plant illegally dumped wastewater more than 5,400 times from April 2018 to December 2024, breaking federal water pollution laws. Environmental groups sued Campbell's in March 2024, alleging repeated exceedances of effluent limits of pollutants were released into the Maumee River, which feeds into Lake Erie. A trial to determine penalties and cleanup requirements is scheduled for 2026.

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a naturally occurring disease among wild birds, including ducks and geese, that can also infect domesticated birds, such as chickens and turkeys. The U.S. has been battling flu outbreaks in commercial poultry flocks since 2022. After a summer lull, cases are rising again. Because avian flu spreads quickly and is untreatable in animals, if even one bird in a flock is infected, the entire flock is culled.

Refrigerator drawers are always working, collecting sticky, pigmented leaks from berry cartons, questionable runoff from thawing shrimp, condensation from humidity settings, and cursed bags of forgotten greens breaking down into a fetid bisque. As the busiest, dampest quadrant of the fridge, they deserve more tending-to than a twice-a-year swipe. But how often should you clean your refrigerator, drawers included? A seasonal deep clean is a good routine to get into.

Costco makes it easy to return and get a refund on just about any product, even without a receipt. But this warehouse retailer has its limits. Some items, like electronics, have shorter return windows, and others you can't return at all, like alcohol or tires, even if you used them just once. And when it comes to food returns, some items have extra rules.

It happens to all of us. Your parents get older, you get older, you go to visit home, look through the pantry, and you find some truly unexplainable stuff. I'm talking about something no one has seen in decades. Something that doesn't even resemble what it's supposed to be. Something that might kill a small Victorian child. Or a medium-sized Edwardian child. Or even a full-sized Stuart period boy.

"For the cold water method, leave the turkey in its original wrapping and submerge it in a sink (or container) full of cold water. It is important that the water be cold so that the turkey stays at a safe temperature. You should change the water every 30 minutes. Empty out the water and replace it with fresh cold water. With this method, allow 30 minutes of defrosting time per pound, so a 16-pound turkey will take 8 hours to thaw

No summertime backyard cookout or Mexican street food experience is complete without corn on the cob - and who better to give us corn on the cob tips than Jorge Guzmán, the executive chef and partner at modern Mexican restaurant Sueño and a James Beard Award finalist? Corn is, after all, a crop that originated in Mexico, and it's the foundation of Mexican cuisine and culinary identity. But how can you tell if the corn cob you picked up at your local farmers market or grocery store isn't up to snuff? According to Guzmán, the telltale sign your corn on the cob won't be very tasty is tactile.