TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people develop a new habit of eating a balanced diet and being disciplined about cleanliness, including paying attention to food safety.

The Director of Southeast Asian Food and Agricultural Science and Technology Center (SEAFAST), Prof. Nuri Andarwulan, outlines five tips that people must implement in order to keep food safe to eat based on the standard set by WHO and Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM).

The first food safety is wash hands and cooking utensils, as well as foodstuff before handling them. This aims at preventing droplets from sticking to vegetables or other foods. Washing hands should be done at any time, not only when one’s about to eat or come home from outside.

“The second tip is separate raw and cooked food. Many dangers from microbes lurk in raw food that can cause illness. If the two are mixed, cooked food can be contaminated,” said Nuri in an event held by Nestle Indonesia on Wednesday, June 17.

Third, cook food thoroughly. Proper cooking can kill viruses and germs that stick to foodstuff. “Cooking can kill microorganisms. For example, if an asymptomatic person produces droplets when boiling food, the boiling water will kill the microorganisms,” said dr. Nuri.

Fourth, store food at a safe, recommended temperature. For example, frozen food packages usually note its safe temperature for people's reference.

The last tip is, always use clean and safe water that has no smell and taste, and food materials that free from physical contamination (gravels, staplers), biological contamination (food that has distorted taste and smell), toxic chemicals (pesticides, herbicides).

Read: Pandemic, Tips for Safe Grocery Shopping and Food Preparation

ANTARA