Solène Delinger 6:49 p.m., December 20, 2021

D-5 before Christmas Eve, family reunions and large tables where champagne, foie gras and other hearty dishes mingle.

Before getting into the kitchen, Laurent Laloux, director of the food safety laboratory (Anses), delivers five hygiene tips to avoid contamination of your food and not get sick during the holidays.

DECRYPTION

A few days before the preparation of the big Christmas meal, Laurent Laloux, director of the food safety laboratory (ANSES), delivers, in Bienfait pour vous, five hygiene tips to avoid the contamination of our food and food poisoning.

Store food according to the temperatures in your fridge

There are four areas in a fridge:

1. A very cold area, below four degrees.

It can be found at the top or at the bottom of the fridge.

This is where we should place our perishable foodstuffs: meats and fish. 

2. The crisper area, above six degrees.

This is where you should put fruits and vegetables, even cheeses if you want them to continue to mature. 

3. The fridge door, between six and ten degrees.

Butter, condiments and drinks are placed there. 

4. The last zone is the middle zone, between four and six degrees.

We put our leftover food there. 

Clean your fridge regularly 

It is necessary to clean your fridge at least once a month with a soft sponge and white vinegar.

It is necessary to avoid the sponges which scratch: they create scratches where the bacteria will then slip in. 

Wash and change your utensils between two uses

Avoid using the same cutting board for multiple foods.

It is the same for the knife.

The ideal is to wash or change your utensils: if this is really not possible, you can, failing that, start with the products that you are going to consume raw and then end with those that you are going to consume cooked. 

Wait for the leftovers to cool before putting them in the fridge

After holiday meals, we often end up with large quantities of leftovers.

What to do with it?

The rule is simple: you have to wait for them to cool before putting them in the fridge.

The goal is to avoid condensation because moisture attracts bacteria. 

Promote cooking of food 

There is nothing better than cooking to make food healthier.

A raw food is a food which has not been processed: it is therefore necessary to avoid mixing it with a cooked food, at the risk of causing cross-contamination.

This is what happens when our fridges, especially during the holidays, are super charged.

Contaminated raw food touches cooked food and will transmit their contamination.   

>> Find all the shows of Mélanie Gomez and Julia Vignali from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Europe 1 in replay and in podcast here