Food Safety

Offer a variety of foods during treatment. The goal is to nourish your child with healthy and safe food selections that your child is able to eat. The following are some tips to keep your child safe and free from infection when dealing with food:

• You and your child should not share drinking cups, bottles, eating utensils or food with anyone.
• Wash your hands, before and after preparing food, and especially after handling raw meat, chicken, eggs or seafood.
• Clean contact surface and utensils with soap and hot water before and after preparing foods.
• Use separate cutting boards for poultry/meats and vegetables/fruits.
• Separate raw, cooked and ready-to-eat foods while shopping, preparing or storing foods.
• Wash and scrub fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water just before eating, cooking or blending into fresh juices.
  — Remove and discard outer leaves, scrub with a clean brush or hands if necessary. Discard any parts that are moldy, crushed or rotten. Avoid vegetable sprouts.
• Dry washed fruits and vegetables with a clean, disposable cloth before storing in the refrigerator.
• Avoid fruit bars and salad bars if safe handling, preparations and storage of those fresh foods are in question.
• When ordering take out, fast food or restaurant food, make sure that the meat is fully cooked.
• Only eat certain deli meats and frankfurters that have been reheated to steaming hot temperature.
• Clean the top of canned formula with warm water and soap before opening. Keep the left over formula in a tightly sealed bottle or container and store in the refrigerator.
• Discard any formula that has been at room temperature longer than two hours.
• Avoid unpasteurized fruit juices, milk and drinks.
• Avoid raw or partially cooked eggs, or food containing raw eggs such as Caesar dressing, homemade mayonnaise and homemade eggnog.
• Avoid raw or uncooked meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and sushi.
• Thaw foods in the refrigerator or microwave oven and cook them immediately.
• Divide leftovers into small portions in shallow containers for quick cooling.
• Refrigerate prepared food or leftovers within two hours.
• Do not keep any prepared food or leftovers more than two hours at room temperature in the home or in the hospital. This includes bottle containers, any opened jars of baby foods and food trays from food services.