Protect Perishable Groceries from the Heat

By Wedge Grocery Staff

With warm weather comes the reminder that perishable food needs extra care. After all, you go out of your way to purchase high quality groceries, so it is important to help them get safely home from the store this time of year.

Here are some tips to ensure your food stays fresh:

If you drive more than a few minutes to get home in the heat, bring an insulated bag (for sale at the Wedge registers) to pack refrigerated and frozen items, and pack the cold items together. If you are not going directly home with your food, an insulated bag or food cooler with ice packing is a must. It is a risk to leave food for any amount of time enclosed in a hot car.

During the hottest days of summer, perishable and refrigerated items should be packed in ice to guarantee they stay cool. Milk left in an 80 degree-plus car for one hour will lose four or five days of its shelf life, while tofu will lose a week. Poultry, meat and seafood could also become potentially dangerous to consume.

Refrigerate food promptly when you arrive home. Your refrigerator's temperature should be between 34 - 40 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer in your refrigerator, get one and check it often around different locations within your refrigerator. Most have places inside that never hold a consistent temperature less than 40 degrees. The door storage is a good example of this. Store the more shelf-stable products here rather than milk, butter or juice.

Refrigerated items have a limited shelf life once brought home. Here are some examples:

These shelf lives are a bit on the conservative side, but are still helpful. More information about proper food handling for safe eating can be found on the Minnesota Deptartment of Health's website at www.health.state.mn.us/.