Preventing the Foodborne Illness for Your Baby
One of the most important steps before you prepare the baby food is to wash your hands. Your hands can pick up harmful bacteria from pets, raw foods (meat, poultry, seafood, eggs), soil, and diapers. Don’t underestimate on things that you couldn’t see with a naked eye.
Make a habit of washing hands when:
- Before and after handling food
- After using the bathroom, changing diapers, or handling pets.
Next, check out some of the important notes as a precaution:
- Check the packaging of commercial baby food before serving:The following may indicate that the food is contaminated or at risk of bacterial contamination:
- For jars:Make sure that the lid is unopened. Discard any jars that has been compromised or that have chipped glass or rusty lids.
- For plastic pouches:Discard any packages that are swelling or leaking.
- For plastic containers: Discard any packages that has a sign of crack or dented. Make sure only heat food using the right type of containers.
- Don’t “double dip” with baby food:Never put baby food back in the refrigerator if the baby doesn’t finish it. Better way is not to feed your baby directly from the jar of baby food. Instead, put a small serving of food on a clean dish and refrigerate the remaining food in the jar. If the baby needs more food, use a clean spoon to serve another portion. Throw away any food in the dish that’s not eaten. If you do feed a baby from a jar, always discard any remaining food.
- Don’t share spoons:Avoid putting the baby’s spoon in your mouth or anyone else’s mouth – or vice versa. If you want to demonstrate eating for your baby, get a separate serving dish and spoon for yourself.
- Never leave any open containers of liquid or pureed baby food out at room temperature for more than two hours: Harmful bacteria grow rapidly in food at room temperature.
- Store opened baby food in the refrigerator for no more than three days:If you’re not sure that the food is safe, remember this saying: “If in doubt, throw it out”.
