Consumer Food Safety Resources

Safe Food Handling & Preparation

Food safety begins well before your meal is served. Storing food correctly, cooking it at the right temperatures, and avoiding cross-contamination all help keep you and your family safe from foodborne illness.

Explore the topics below for practical tips, key guidelines, and best practices to help you handle, prepare, and serve food safely and confidently.

Additional Resources:

Foodborne Illness & Disease

Foodborne illness, or food poisoning, happens when people eat food that has been contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemicals.

Food Handling Resources:

Food Safety for Emergencies

When disasters strike—such as storms, power outages, or other unexpected events— it is important to keep your food safe.

Knowing how to store, handle, and prepare food in emergencies can help prevent illness and make sure your family has access to safe meals when you need them most.

Before a Disaster or Emergency

To prepare for an emergency, be sure to:

Maintain a stock of foods that have a long storage life.
Keep foods that require little or no cooking, water, or refrigeration, in case utilities are disrupted.
Check the expiration dates on canned foods and dry mixes. Home-canned food should be thrown out after a year. Use and replace food before it expires.

During a Disaster or Emergency

If the Power Goes Out:

Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature.
During a snowstorm, do not place perishable food out in the snow. Outside temperatures can vary and food can be exposed to unsanitary conditions or animals.

After a Disaster or Emergency

After the emergency be sure to throw away the following foods:

Perishable food that has not been refrigerated or frozen properly due to power outages.
Food that may have come in contact with floodwater or stormwater.
Food with an unusual odor, color, or texture.

Explore the resources below to stay prepared and safeguard your food supply in any situation.

Additional Resources:

Food Safety Fun for Kids

Children are especially vulnerable to foodborne germs, making safe food handling is very important. Whether you are packing school lunches or preparing meals at home, a few simple steps can help keep kids healthy.

Explore the topics below to learn how to keep the foods your kids eat safe, healthy, and worry free.

Food Safety Games

Food Detectives Computer Game

Download Coloring Sheets

Reporting a Problem with Food

When you submit a complaint, you help us protect the public’s health and make sure food establishments in our community meet the safety standards.

By sharing your concerns, you give our Environmental Specialists the information they need to investigate the situation and respond as needed.

To submit a complaint, you can choose from the following options:

Call us at (205) 930-9110.
In person at:

JCDH Environmental Health Services
1400 6th Ave South
Birmingham, AL 35222
2nd Floor – Food & Lodging Protection Division

Name and address of the food establishment.
This helps us make sure your complaint goes to the right place.
Date and approximate time of your visit or incident.
This allows us to match your observations with our inspection records or the conditions at the time of your visit.

Description of what happened.
Please include as much detail as possible about the issue you observed, such as unsafe food handling, illness after eating, employee hygiene concerns, or facility conditions.
Foods eaten or purchased (if applicable).
Listing what you ordered helps us identify potential sources of contamination or improper preparation.
Your contact information (optional but helpful).
While you may submit a complaint anonymously, providing a phone number or email address allows us to follow up if we need more information to complete the investigation. We will never share your name or contact information with the food establishment.

We appreciate your help in keeping our food establishments safe for everyone. If you have any questions about the complaint process, our team is here to assist you.

Recalls and Alerts

What you should know about food recalls?

Local health departments like the Jefferson County Department of Health cannot issue food recalls, but we can help make sure recalled foods do not reach consumers.

If you have a recalled food item, here are some tips on what to do and where to find information about current and past recalls and alerts.

Recalls and Warnings

FDA (Food & Drug Administration)
Oversees recalls for manufactured foods, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, pet food and animal health products.

USDA: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Oversees recalls for meat, poultry, and processed egg products.

Foodsafety.gov
Not involved in recalling any foods, but does maintain a listing of active food recalls.

ADPH (Alabama Department of Public Health)
Maintains a list of re-called items and alerts (not just food) that impact the state of Alabama.

Protect your family by following these 4 easy food safety tips.

If food is not handled properly, it can cause foodborne illness. Prevent foodborne illness by following these four easy steps:

Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often.
Separate: Don't cross-contaminate.
Cook: Cook to the proper temperature.
Chill: Refrigerate food promptly.

Wash hands and surfaces often.

Cleanliness is a major factor in preventing foodborne illness. Make sure anything that touches your food is clean. Here are some steps you can follow to handle food safely at home:

Wash your hands with warm, soapy water for 20 seconds:
- before and after handling food
- after using the bathroom
- after changing a diaper
- after handling pets
- after tending to a sick person
- after touching uncooked eggs, raw meat, poultry or fish and their juices
If your hands have any kind of skin abrasion or infection, always use clean disposable gloves. Wash your hands (gloved or not) with warm, soapy water.
Thoroughly wash any surfaces that touch raw meat, poultry, fish, or eggs with hot, soapy water before moving on to the next step in food preparation. Consider using paper towels to clean kitchen surfaces. If you prefer dishcloths, make sure to wash them often in your washing machine’s hot cycle. Also, remember to clean things like faucets and countertops with hot, soapy water.
Wash your cutting boards with hot, soapy water after every use. Rinse them well, then let them air dry or use clean paper towels to dry them. To sanitize, mix one tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach with a gallon of water. Even plastic boards can wear out, so if yours has deep grooves or is tough to clean, it’s time to replace it.
- Serve cooked food on clean plates and always use clean utensils. Remember to wash your hands frequently.
- When using a food thermometer, wash the probe with hot, soapy water after each use and before putting it into food.
Keep pets, household cleaners, and other chemicals away from food and any surfaces where you prepare food.

When you’re picnicking or cooking outside, bring plenty of clean utensils. Also pack clean, dry, wet, and soapy cloths to clean surfaces and your hands.

Additional Resources:

Millions of Americans with Dirty Hands Are Spreading Dangerous Bacteria | FoodSafety.gov

Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate to prevent cross-contamination.

- Improper handling of raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs can create an inviting environment for cross-contamination. Harmful bacteria or viruses can then spread to food and throughout the kitchen, leading to foodborne illness.
Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags, and in your refrigerator.
Clean and sanitize cutting boards between use or use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, or seafood.
- Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs.
- Sauce used to marinate raw meat, poultry, or seafood should not be used on cooked food unless it is boiled first to destroy any harmful bacteria.

Additional Resources:

Separating Food (Food Safety for Moms-to-Be) | FDA

Food is safely cooked when it reaches an internal temperature high enough to kill the harmful bacteria that cause foodborne illness.

Cook to the safe internal temperature

Use a food thermometer that can measure the internal temperature of cooked meat, poultry, seafood, and egg dishes, to make sure that the food is cooked to a safe internal temperature. See below for safe cooking guidelines from the USDA.

Cook roasts and steaks to a minimum of 145°F. All poultry should reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer.
Cook ground meat to at least 160°F. Remember, color is not a reliable indicator of doneness.
Cook eggs and dishes containing eggs until the internal temperature reaches 160°F.
Cook fish to 145°F or until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
When cooking in a microwave oven, make sure there are no cold spots in the food because these are the areas where bacteria can survive.

Additional Resources:

Refrigerate foods quickly because cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria.

Do not over-stuff the refrigerator. Cold air must circulate to keep food safe. Maintaining a constant refrigerator temperature of 41°F or lower is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. The freezer should be set to 0°F or lower.
- Refrigerate or freeze meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and other perishables as soon as you get home from the store.
- Never let raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, cooked food, or cut fresh produce sit at room temperature for more than 2 hours before refrigerating or freezing. Limit this to one hour during the summer months.

Defrosting Foods Properly

Never defrost food at room temperature because harmful bacteria can multiply quickly. Use one of these options to thaw food safely:
- In the refrigerator. Place frozen food on a plate or pan to catch any juices that may leak.
- Under cold running water in a sanitized sink. Make sure that the food is wrapped in leak-proof plastic to help prevent cross-contamination.
- In the microwave if you cook the food right away.
- If you do not have time to thaw food, it is safe to cook from frozen, but cooking will take about 50 percent longer than for thawed meat or poultry.

Hit the Road Cold

When traveling, be aware that time, temperature, and a cold source are key.
Always use ice or ice packs. A full cooler will maintain cold temperatures longer than a partially filled one.
For more information, check out our Food Safety on the Move fact sheet.

Additional Resources:

FightBAC-Core-Four-Chill.pdf