Prevent cross-contamination in your refrigerator and be nice to the environment

Reduce, Reues, Recycle and Food Safety - Great ways you can be food safe and protect your environment too.
by Jim Chan

Tired of seeing all the plastic food containers piling up in your kitchen or in your recycling bin? 

All these can become waste if we toss them in the garbage and end up in the landfill. You can understand why effective waste management is so important to us as the waste we create has to be carefully controlled and does not harm the environment and your health. You can help by learning about and practising the Three R's - University of Toronto's waste management on Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Practising these activities is not only important for a healthy environment, but it can also improve public health too.

In Toronto, these plastic food containers such as clam-shell containers like the ones which hold fruits, berries, store-bought sandwiches and bakery trays are already being recycled through the ReUseIt - City of Toronto waste management program. This is good news to the environment BUT can we do better?

Love environment and food safety? See how to reuse plastic food containers to hold frozen food during defrosting before recycling them

There are many benefits of using plastic food containers to store or thaw frozen food, including packaged meat, poultry and seafood. The containers come in different sizes, food safety grade, usually leak proof and with tight fitting lids. Best of all, they are FREE.

All you have to remember is to store raw food, especially meat, poultry and seafood in their original package in containers as in the photo (left and right).
Always wash and sanitize the containers after each use, especially when used for storing raw meat, and toss them into the recycling bin when after a few uses or when they are damaged.

After working as a public health inspector for many years, I regularly tell food business operators during food safety inspection to

''always put packages of raw meat, poultry and seafood on a plate or tray and cover them with a cover, or in a container with a lid before refrigerating''. Now, with all these free empty plastic food containers in the kitchen, they can use them to store food and reduce the risk of cross-contamination in the refrigerator as well as better for the environment too.


In the refrigerator 


What temperature should be in the fridge?
Keep refrigeration temperature at 4 C/40F or lower and freezer at -18C/0F or lower. 
More on Healthy refrigerator at home

Where to store raw food in the refrigerator?

Always store raw food on the lower shelves of the refrigerator below ready-to-eat food so the meat juices won’t drip on other food.

Raw meat juices often contain harmful bacteria like E.coli, Salmonella that can cause food poisoning'.

Also, using a leak proof container can greatly improve food safety in a food establishment and at home.

Food Safety Message From Dr. Justin Beaver of  

Health Inspector's Notebook

Avoid foodborne illness at home, 

keep food safe

What to do with these plastic containers after ?

These containers are perfect for gardening, here are a few tips: