#food-safety

#food-safety

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.

More pistachio and pistachio-containing products have been recalled in Canada over concerns about possible salmonella contamination. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says the following products, sold by vendors in Ottawa and Mississauga, Ont., are under recall: Green pistachios, in varying quantities, sold at the SNMB Roasted Nut Factory at 2399 Cawthra Rd. Unit 42, Mississauga, Ont., from Aug. 11 through Oct. 10.

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.

Although it is one of the worst kitchen items to clean, regularly cleaning your microwave can prevent icky odors and drips that could affect the quality or taste of your food. You can also lower the risk of bacteria buildup and mold growth. Plus, after a while, letting messy residue accumulate in and on your appliance can even affect its performance and lifespan.

Viruses can be spread at any time, according to Amarat (Amy) Simonne, a professor of food safety and quality at the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. While she said that the CDC hasn't collected specific data on foods associated with holiday seasons, one study reported an uptick in certain Salmonella cases following the Thanksgiving holiday, which the researchers said was most likely related to foods disproportionately eaten then, particularly turkey.

Some of us will cut off the bruise and eat the rest, but evidence shows that a lot of bruised apples are tossed out. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, about 45% of all fruits and vegetables are wasted. That's 3.7 trillion apples. The creators of Arctic apples saw that as a major problem they needed to fix as they attempted to design an apple that wouldn't turn brown, allowing it to stay fresher longer.

All it takes is a few unnoticed meat drippings to ruin just about everything in your fridge, so storing raw chicken in the bottom shelf is one of the most important food safety tips every home cook needs to know. There, it's safely tucked in the corner - where the bacterial contaminants are kept far away from fresh and cooked food.

Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.