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Hospital urges public not to pack fridge with food

As much as 95 percent of the public cannot tell fresh food from spoiled food, Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) said yesterday, adding that to avoid tossing out good food or getting food poisoning from bad food, people should not hoard food in their refrigerators.

Chief nutritionist at TMUH Su Hsiu-yueh (蘇秀悅) told a press conference that “2.6 million people in this country have suffered from diarrhea in the past year, so it is very important that Taiwanese know how to keep their food fresh.”

“Many people mistakenly think that putting food in the fridge stops germs from multiplying, when in fact the low temperature only slows down germ proliferation,” Su said.

Improper storage also increases the rate of spoilage in refrigerated food, Su said.

“Sixty percent of people shove their food into the fridge directly in its original packaging, which leads to cross-contamination,” Su said, citing a survey the hospital conducted with 636 respondents.

“To keep food fresh ... keep it in air-tight containers,” she said.

Most people aren’t sure when the foods in their fridge go bad, Su said.

“Seventy-five percent of people rely on visual examination to tell if food is okay to eat, while another 18 percent decide whether food is spoiled by the smell. In reality, most foods don’t keep more than a week in the fridge,” Su said.

Cooked foods and fresh seafood can only be kept for two days, poultry and fruits can last three, and pork, beef and juices can stay fresh for up to six days, Su said.

Su said that buying food in smaller quantities would help reduce unnecessary waste, as 92 percent of survey respondents reported tossing out food.

Each family throws out an average of NT$66 of food per week, which adds up to NT$25.8 billion per year nationwide, Su said.

“Most people throw out these foods to avoid health hazards. But if it were eaten while still fresh, the amount of food thrown away could provide lunches for 223,000 elementary school students for 20 years,” she said.
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