Safe Eating and Food Hygiene

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Hygiene: Cleanliness and safety

Without doubt, cleanliness is crucial to avoiding food contamination. Most of us are very careful with hygiene; however, when dealing with food, it's worth remembering the following:

Wash fruit and scrub vegetables before use or before refrigerating
Use hot soapy water to wash your hands
Use appropriate cutting boards. Wooden boards have been shown to yield the lowest bacterial covering after use and washing
Take care when heating food in a microwave as the food can be hotter in certain areas than others
Do not cross-contaminate foods, for example raw meats, poultry or eggs should not be placed together
Avoid using your fingers to handle food
Keep hair away from food
Reduce the food's exposure to anyone who may be unwell
Wash sponges in the machine or place in the microwave for two minutes and replace regularly
Clean up food spills with paper towels and dispose immediately
If in doubt, discard food that is suspicious.

Choking: Hazards and how to avoid them

A recent study of food-related choking in America found that 90% occurred in infants and children under the age of 5 years and 65% in children under 2 years. Of the 103 foods studied, round-shaped foods were found to be the most common offenders. The study found the following foods to be most risky (in order):

Hot dogs and sweets
Nuts
Grapes

To further avoid choking, ensure your baby eats only while sitting. NEVER leave infants or young children to eat alone. Avoid hard and round small foods; instead chop food into irregular small pieces and quarter grapes. Some reports suggest avoiding sticky foods such as melted cheeses and peanut butter; however, there is a low incidence of asphyxiation with these foods.

Quick tip:

Baby-feeding meshes are a recent product on the market. They are plastic holders with a mesh bag to hold food that baby can then chew on. Fantastic for teething and safely introducing finger foods, for example a wide range of fruit, veggies and other foods. These replace the home-made version using muslin. A great invention.

Hazardous foods and safe eating
Infants and young children don’t have back teeth which we use to chew and grind food down to smaller pieces. Combined with their still-developing eating methods, this puts them at risk of choking. Too many toddlers and preschoolers think eating is just an inconvenience in a day that is otherwise filled with play. A common tendency is to take large mouthfuls of food and get it down as fast as possible.

What are the age groups most at risk from food-related choking?

90% occurs in infants and children under the age of 5 years
65% in children under 2

Tips for making food safer

Always sit down to eat in a calm manner.
Supervise infants or young children while they eat.
Avoid hard and round small foods or chop them into irregular small pieces.
Encourage children to take small to medium bites, to eat slowly and to chew their food well.
Never force food into a child’s mouth.
It may be wise to avoid sticky foods such as melted cheeses and peanut butter; however, the incidence of asphyxiation with these foods is low.
Cut meat, poultry and sausage into small pieces and remove skin and excess fat.
Grate, cook or mash small hard fruit and vegies.
Avoid small hard pieces especially rounded shapes.
Avoid nuts, seeds, popcorn, whole grapes and sweets.

What do you do if a child chokes on food?

If the child is breathing, then check their mouth for food. Remove any foodstuff you can see and ask the child to cough to see if this brings up any more food. This should also be removed. Keep an eye on the child for a while to ensure the danger is over. If a child is still not breathing easily after two minutes, call for an ambulance.

Where a child has stopped breathing, place them face down across your lap, their head should be lower than their chest. Give a sharp blow between the shoulders using the heel of your open hand only. Check their mouth and take out any food you can see. Repeat this process up to five times if required. Should the child still not be breathing, call for an ambulance.

Consider taking a first aid or Red Cross course; there are now children-specific first aid courses.

This information has been provided by Leanne Cooper from Cadence Health. Leanne is a qualified nutritionist and mother of two very active boys.