Barbara Walch

Besides requests for recipes, I receive almost as many inquiries from people about food-safety issues. “Is the raw chicken I bought at the store a few days ago still good?” “I just found an unopened jar of salsa in my pantry but it’s past the expiration date—can I still serve it?” “I just discovered salmon fillets that have been in my freezer for over a year, is it okay to thaw and grill them?” As someone with a better-safe-than-sorry inclination, my usual response is “I wouldn’t if I were you.” But if they are seeking more in-depth food safety guidelines, I often refer them to a valuable resource for this kind of information, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Carrie Brazeal, MS, is the Collin County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. For almost 30 years, Carrie has been dispensing research-based information provided through the Texas A&M System on all kinds of issues relating to family life. “Education is the main part of my job,” she says. “I answer lots of questions daily on the phone and by e-mail about things like food handling and storage, and I also teach classes in the area on subjects ranging from parenting to diabetes management to household budgeting. Anything that affects families, I’m involved in.”

On the topic of food storage, the first thing Carrie says you need to know is the difference between food safety and food quality concerns. “Someone will call me and ask, ‘I’ve had these leftovers in my refrigerator for several days, are they still safe to eat?’ Well, it depends on what it is and how it was handled before it went into the refrigerator. We take a real conservative view when it comes to food safety just because we don’t know the background, how clean someone’s kitchen is, and if there was cross-contamination,” she explains. On the other hand, most canned goods are safe for one to two years if stored properly, and frozen foods can stay safe indefinitely. But the longer food is stored, the more the quality suffers resulting in loss of nutrients and flavor. It may still be safe to eat, but it’s probably not going to taste very good.

If the food hasn’t been compromised by unsanitary conditions, a good rule of thumb for refrigerated leftovers is two to three days, for most frozen items three to six months, and for pantry items one to two years. But pay close attention to the dates marked on the packaging and in the absence of a date, mark it yourself with the purchase date. “Everything has a shelf life,” Carrie says. “We try to teach people to pay close attention to the labeling and to adhere to the dates indicated. You should really operate like a grocery store and stock from the back and use products from the front so you have this continual rotation of food. Implement the FIFO policy in your kitchen: first-in first-out.”

Most foods are safe to eat after the “sell by,” “use by,” or “best if used by” date if they have been stored appropriately, except for produce that has been washed and bagged. Those should be discarded, as well as foods that are beyond an expiration date. The one exception for that are eggs which can be used up to 30 days after the expiration date as long as they have been stored in their original container inside the refrigerator, not on the door.

At this time of year when outdoor barbecues and picnics are so popular, Carrie also has good advice for keeping your family’s food supply safe in the heat. Package the perishable foods in a separate cooler from the beverages. On a hot day, the cooler with the refreshments will be opened and closed hundreds of times and every time it’s opened, cold air is lost. Instead of packing one big bowl of potato salad, put it in three or four smaller containers and then pack them in another cooler with lots of ice. At the picnic site, keep the cooler in a shaded area. If you are picking up take-out food like fried chicken or pizza, make that your last stop before arriving at the picnic destination and serve while it’s still hot.

And transport your cooler with the food inside the car, not in the back of a truck or the trunk of a car. If it’s over 90 degrees outside, you have one hour from the time you remove the food from the refrigerator or the oven to get it served and eaten. “And we don’t recommend bringing home leftovers from picnics,” she adds. “Plan your food so you don’t have leftovers, or throw them away. If you are afraid someone is going to get hungry later, have some pre-packaged food like cookies, chips, or crackers available for people to snack on.”

For her family picnic, Carrie likes to make her recipe for Picnic Chicken, which is baked, chilled, and served cold. She accompanies this with a fresh Tomato and Corn Salad that takes advantage of the fresh produce of the season. “It’s a wonderful side dish you can do ahead of time and it’s better served at room temperature,” she says. “And everyone loves deviled eggs, so I keep the filling in a sealed plastic bag in the cooler then, when it’s time to serve, I snip off the end of the bag and fill the egg whites.

As an added bonus, I’ve also provided one of my picnic favorites, Shrimp Orzo Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette.

 Carrie says the bottom line when it comes to food safety is: When in doubt, throw it out. “Don’t risk getting sick. Foods may look, smell, and even taste fine but still harbor bacteria. Throwing out a few dollars worth of food is better than spending more dollars at the doctor’s office and losing a few days of work. Food-borne illness is very real and people die from it every year. So take it seriously.”

To learn more about food safety and storage, visit fcs.tamu.edu then click on Food and Nutrition. To contact Carrie Brazeal with questions, e-mail her at c-brazeal@tamu.edu.