The Dangers of Storing Food in the Refrigerator
A refrigerator is an electronic device that can help everyone to store various types of food, be it dry food, wet food, fruits, vegetables, as well as basic ingredients in making food, the goal is to keep these ingredients in good condition. optimal time to use.
Refrigerator Working Principle
The way the refrigerator works follows the law of thermodynamics where hot air always moves to cooler air. It’s just that the concept of law is executed in reverse.
The process of transferring heat from inside the refrigerator to the outside is carried out by a component called the Evaporator. This component is responsible for absorbing heat from objects stored in the refrigerator. The heat that has been sucked in will then cool the food.
The Dangers of Storing Food in the Refrigerator
Storing food for too long in the refrigerator will multiply the bacteria attached to the food.
This triggers a decomposition process that releases chemicals into the food, causing it to taste rancid. Even if the food is stored in the refrigerator, it will not completely stop the process carried out by bacteria.
If you eat food that has been stored in the refrigerator for too long, you may experience health problems. Examples include abdominal pain, diarrhea, and poisoning.
For this reason, if you are going to store food in the refrigerator, pay attention to the expiration date and things that affect the durability of the food.
It is feared that food stored for too long will spoil and trigger bacteria to multiply.
Refrigerator Becomes a Source of Bacteria
In the refrigerator, it is difficult for bacteria to reproduce, but that does not mean that these germs are dead. Bacteria and mold can survive in the refrigerator. This is due to poor maintenance on the refrigerator.
Research conducted in 2011 by The Microban Europe showed that most people live with 8000 bacterial colonies in their refrigerators.
This bacteria will move from one food and contaminate other foods stored in the refrigerator.
A number of harmful bacteria that can grow and multiply in the refrigerator include salmonella, e-coli and botulinum.
Well, to solve this problem, there are several ways that can be applied so that the refrigerator does not become a nest of bacteria.
1. Refrigerator Service Or Maintenance Periodically
To keep the refrigerator from becoming a nest and a place for bacteria to accumulate, it needs regular maintenance.
Even though it seems trivial, cleaning the refrigerator can extend the life of the refrigerator quite significantly.
Cleaning is done on the exterior and interior. To clean the outer body, you can do it with a special cleaning fluid for electronic devices or you can even just wipe it clean.
Meanwhile for the inside of the refrigerator, it can be cleaned with water, a clean cloth that has not been given a cleaning liquid. You don’t have to use special cleaning liquid, you can even use liquid to wash dishes.
After the cleaning process is complete, make sure all new dry parts of the refrigerator are turned on again.
2. Store Food Correctly
The correct way of storing food will make food last longer and not spoil quickly, whereas if it is wrong, of course it will be the other way around. Eating will quickly rot, then will trigger the proliferation of bacteria.
Do not store hot food in the refrigerator.
By rushing hot food into the fridge, you can lose its nutritional value and even make your fridge work extra hard.
Well, here are some examples of storing food properly and correctly. You can apply it at home.
Do not store fresh meat without packaging
Fresh meat is usually placed on the top rack. When the temperature is unstable, the frozen meat will thaw and the broth can drip onto the shelf below. These water droplets will stick to the food and will trigger the appearance of bacteria.
So should, place the meat in a tightly closed plastic or container.
Fruits and Vegetables
Store fruits and vegetables separately according to their respective types. For example, apples with apples, carrots with carrots. Fruits and vegetables can emit different gases and spoil the quality of one another.
Store fast-drying fruits and vegetables in plastic containers with holes or loose lids. The goal is to keep it moist and maintain air circulation on the surface of the fruit.
Do not wash fresh vegetables and fruit before storing them in the refrigerator. Residual water that sticks can make the surface moist and make it soft and rot quickly.
Leftover food
Store all leftover food in tightly closed containers or tightly wrapped in food plastic.
Place leftovers in smaller containers to cool faster. Several types of bacteria and fungi survive the cooking process and can multiply if food is kept at room temperature for too long.
Store leftovers in the refrigerator within two hours of cooking. You don’t have to wait for hot food to become room temperature
Dairy Products
Leave the cheese, yogurt, sour cream, milk, and butter in the packing containers when purchased. However, when you have transferred the milk into the drinking pitcher or the cream into the bowl, do not return it to the packaging container. To keep it sterile, tightly wrap the serving bowl or tip of the pitcher with PP plastic wrap.
Place the solid cheese in a tightly closed container until you want to use it. If you want to store it again, wrap it in aluminum foil or food plastic.
Plastic milk bottle packaging is relatively more sterile than cardboard packaging. Bacteria can thrive on cardboard partitions and can get into the glass every time you pour milk into the glass.
However, as long as you consume milk according to the specified time, carton packaged milk is still fairly safe for consumption.
Those are some tips for storing the right food in the refrigerator. There are also some food ingredients, kitchen spices that should not be put in the refrigerator. Because it can damage the texture, taste, and even reduce the nutritional content. For example ;
1 Potato and Sweet Potato
These foods should not be put in the refrigerator because the cold and damp air can spoil the texture and taste. The starch contained in potatoes and sweet potatoes will break down more quickly into sugar so that the potatoes and sweet potatoes taste pungent
2. Spices
Spices such as coriander, cumin, ground nutmeg, pepper, and others. Spices placed in the refrigerator will turn dry, smell, and lose their original taste.
3. Oil
Most oils are safe to store at room temperature. Storing oil in the fridge is ineffective and will only take up space.
4. Honey
Honey hardens easily if stored in the refrigerator. So putting honey in the refrigerator will only make honey spoil.