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With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, the Centre for Food Safety today (February 4) urged people to be mindful of food safety when purchasing and consuming festive foods.
Useful tips on purchase:
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* Plan ahead the quantity of food that can be consumed to avoid excessive leftovers.
* Choose fresh food and buy less preserved or processed food.
* When buying pre-packaged food products, check the expiry dates and make sure the packages are intact. When buying non-packaged food products, pay attention to hygiene conditions of the shops, for instance, whether the food is kept in covered containers and whether the staff use clean utensils to handle food.
Useful tips on preparing candy box:
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* When buying traditional snacks such as sweetened melon, sweetened lotus seeds and sweetened coconut slices, choose those with natural colours.
* Try replacing traditional snacks with healthy food such as dried fruits (e.g. dried apricots and raisins) and baked unsalted nuts.
* Pay attention to the hulls when buying melon seeds. Those looking unnaturally glossy may have had mineral oil added to them, which may cause gastrointestinal discomfort. Use a hand cracker when eating melon seeds to avoid direct contact between the mouth and the hulls.
Useful tips on consumption:
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* Festive puddings should be kept in the refrigerator and eaten as soon as possible. Discard those found mouldy or with an abnormal taste.
* Puddings meant to be served hot should be reheated thoroughly before eating, preferably by steaming or in microwave oven to avoid use of oil.
* Cold dishes should be kept in the refrigerator and should only be taken out shortly before consumption.
* Avoid keeping ready-to-eat food at room temperature for over two hours.
* All leftovers should be refrigerated and reheated thoroughly before consumption.
* Avoid eating too much New Year food with high energy, sugar, salt or fat content. People with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure and those on weight management should limit their intake of such food.
People may browse the CFS website (www.cfs.gov.hk) for more food safety tips.
Ends/Monday, February 4, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:46
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