DO NOT LET HYGIENE SOUR THE HOLIDAY!
As the Feast of the Sacrifice, or Kurban Bairam, is approaching, the experts are warning about possible food poisonings due to misinformation or lack of information about food safety, preserving and preparing of meats during the upcoming holiday season. It has been strongly emphasized that hygiene played a major role especially during this time of period when family members get together to fulfil longings, have family dinners, and consume lots of desserts.
Prof. Dr. Nazan Turhan, Dean of IUE Faculty of Agricultural Technology and Food Sciences, indicated that the meat should be rested, chopped, dispersed, and frozen properly for a healthier bairam holiday. She said consumption of red meat especially increased during the Feast of the Sacrifice, and stated, “When the animal is butchered first, its meat gets very hard due to stress. The meat needs to be rested in an environment with no sunlight at a room temperature for 5-6 hours as the animal’s body temperature reaches up to 40 degrees when first butchered, so it needs resting for about a 10 degree decrease in the temperature. Afterwards, it needs to be separated into small portions. If the meat will be distributed, it should not be put in bags immediately as it may turn out greenish colour and become harmful due to heat”.
‘The meat should be stored in portions’
Prof. Dr. Nazan Turhan pointed out that the meat should be separated into bags of desired portions before freezing as smaller portions freeze much easier. “If the meat is going to be kept in freezer, it should be separated into smaller amounts. The bags should not be placed on top of each other in bulks and they should be placed in the lower parts of the freezer. Before using, it should be kept in the refrigerator for thawing, this is very important; it should never be thawed at a room temperature. We should also pay attention to not to place the raw and cooked meat on the same shelves. Raw meat should be placed on lower shelves as its juice may leak into other cooked products thus causing microorganisms to produce, which may very well result in food poisoning,” said Prof. Dr. Turhan.
‘Watch out for sweet intake during bairam’
Prof. Dr. Nazan Turhan reminded that dessert consumption would spike due to bairam visits, and that the body turned excess glucose into fat. Prof. Dr. Turhan stated the following:
“The refined sugar, which increases blood sugar quickly and causes hunger immediately after, is the main ingredient of desserts. Especially, people, who are genetically prone to heart diseases, are over-stressed, inactive, smoking, have risk factors such as obesity, diabetics, and hypertension, with imbalanced diets, need to consume minimum level of simple sugars. The human body did not crave sugar, it satisfies that need through natural foods, and eating dessert only serves to satisfy the sweet tooth.”
