Let’s Do Lunch - How To Pack A Safe Lunch
We’re on the go and often carry our lunches to work or school - or pack lunches for others. Use these food safety tips to pack a safe lunch!
- Keep them clean! Make sure your hands, food preparation surfaces, utensils, and lunch boxes are clean. Use hot, soapy water to effectively get rid of bacteria. Also, remember to thoroughly rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running water before packing them.
- If you’re making sandwiches the night before, keep the sandwiches in the refrigerator and pack them to go in the morning.
- Keep hot foods hot. Use an insulated thermos for soup, chili, or stew. First, fill the thermos with boiling water and let it stand for a few minutes. Then empty the thermos, and fill it with piping hot food. Keep the lid tightly closed until lunchtime.
- When packing lunch boxes, take cold foods right from the refrigerator and freezer and pack them in a box. Include a cold pack.
- Freeze single-sized juice packs overnight and place the frozen drink in with your lunch. The juice will thaw by lunchtime, but it will still be cold. The frozen drink will also keep the rest of the lunch cold.
- Don’t let food sit in warm temperatures for very long. Eat it or put it right back in your lunch box with a frozen cold pack. Any perishable food (e.g., meat, poultry, or egg sandwiches) that were not eaten at lunch should be discarded if proper storage is not available.
Follow these easy food handling, preparation, and safety tips. You want to have lunch with your buddies, not your bacteria.
See also: An Ounce Of Prevention: Keep The Germs Away, Stopping Germs at Home, Work and School, , Know the Food Service Safety Code, and Safe Food Preparation Temperatures and Practices.
Used with permission of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)