Leftover festive sweets and snacks can spoil if stored incorrectly. Learn common food-storage mistakes and simple ways to keep festive treats safe to eat.
The holidays often lead to the accumulation of many boxes of sweets, fried foods, and other delicacies. However, the wrong storage of these foods might lead to a food safety problem. The growth of bacteria can occur due to food that is stored at unsafe temperatures; moisture, repeated handling, and cross-contamination might also contribute to food poisoning.
Thus, knowing the right way to store holiday leftovers can prevent various stomach problems, including stomach infections, nausea, diarrhea, etc.
1. Exposing Sweets and Snacks to the Open Air for too Long
Often people keep leftover food in the open air at room temperature without any covering. Perishable foods, for example, milk-based sweets (rasgulla, rasmalai, peda), will not remain safe after being exposed to the open air for a long time. In general, all the perishable foods should be stored in the refrigerator within two hours, while in case the temperature goes up above 32°C within an hour.
2. Storing All Types of Sweets in the Same Manner
There are various requirements for storing sweets. Sweets based on milk and other moist sweets need to be stored in a refrigerator while dry sweet preparations might stay fine in an airtight container. It is important to always read the storage directions on packaged sweets and when purchasing them from the sweet shop, ensure that you consume them within the required period.
3. Storage of Foods without Using Airtight Containers
It is dangerous to expose your snacks to air as it might lead to contamination. It is important to store leftover foods in food-grade airtight containers after they cool down. Ensure that you store the raw foods separately from cooked foods.
4. Reheating the Same Food Repeatedly
The more often food is reheated especially if it was not cooled or stored correctly in between meals, the greater the risk of food poisoning becomes. Rather, portion out leftovers before storing them in the fridge and reheat only as much as you will consume.
5. Relying on Smell and Look
Food may not smell and look spoiled even though there are bacteria present in it. Do not sample any food in order to make sure that it is okay. Get rid of leftovers if they have been stored under inappropriate conditions for too long, even if everything seems fine.
To avoid food poisoning and still be able to enjoy your favourite festive foods, you should take care of appropriate storage of leftovers.
-This article is authored by Dr. Preema Khan Consultant – Internal Medicine, KIMS Hospitals, Electronic City