With Easter holiday drawing near, many shopping malls are well decorated with colourful Easter eggs and enticing bunnies, building up an atmosphere for the forthcoming seasonal celebration. To celebrate the occasion, many families would choose to gather together to enjoy a delightful buffet

Buffet comes with a wide variety of foods, and some of these foods like the rock oysters and sashimi are to be eaten raw. These high risk foods may be contaminated by pathogens like norovirus, hepatitis A virus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. As these kinds of foods would not be cooked before consumption, the pathogens could survive and may possibly lead to food poisoning. Therefore, we should bear in mind the following food safety tips:

Choosing quality food premises

• Patronize reliable licensed restaurants.
• Before choosing a particular restaurant, take a look at its hygiene conditions. See whether its staff observe good personal hygiene and have proper food-handling practices.
• Pay attention to the proper storage and display of food. Raw food should be separated from cooked food.

Choosing safer food

• Pay attention to the freshness of foods. Do not consume food that looks or tastes abnormal.
• Cold dishes should be kept cold in a chiller or on ice (temperature should be kept at 4 degrees Celsius or below) while hot dishes should be kept hot by a heating apparatus (temperature should not be lower than 60 degrees Celsius).
• Use separate utensils to handle raw and cooked food to avoid cross-contamination.
• Use a clean plate to take food each time. Don't use the same plate repeatedly.
• Do not use bare hands to take food, such as cut fruits, candies and nuts.
• Do not take too much food at one time to avoid keeping the food too long at room temperature (no longer than two hours).
• Children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with lowered immunity should choose cooked foods or hot dishes rather than high-risk foods like raw foods or cold dishes.

Healthy Eating Habit

• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before selecting and consuming food, and after going to the toilet.
• Maintain a balanced diet and avoid eating too much.