Proper food storage is key to ensuring food safety and maintaining its nutritional value. Proper food storage extends its shelf life, saves money, and reduces food waste.

Refrigerators are a common household appliance that helps keep food fresh and safe for households. However, if not stored properly, food in the refrigerator can be damaged, lose nutrients, and even cause food poisoning.

Here are some tips for properly storing food in the refrigerator, ensuring safety and nutritional value:

 1.   Maintain proper food storage temperature and time

The refrigerator compartment should be kept at 4 degrees Celsius, which is the ideal temperature to prevent the growth of bacteria, helping food retain its freshness and nutrients. You should check the temperature of the refrigerator compartment regularly with a thermometer to ensure that the refrigerator is working properly.

To keep food in the refrigerator compartment at its best, avoid storing too many items in the refrigerator and leave space between items. This will help air circulate, prevent bacteria growth and keep the refrigerator running efficiently.

The freezer compartment of the refrigerator should be set at a temperature of -18 to -20 degrees Celsius. This is the ideal temperature for freezing food, helping to prevent the growth of bacteria and keeping food retaining its flavor, freshness and nutrients for a long time.

Below is a table of food storage times in the freezer to maintain nutritional value and safety:

 

Food classification is one of the most important steps in food preservation. Proper food classification helps prevent cross-contamination, limit food spoilage, nutrient loss, and stimulate the ripening process of fruits in the refrigerator.

Benefits of sorting food in the refrigerator include:

 Avoid cross-contamination:  Raw foods can contain harmful bacteria. If left unchecked, bacteria from raw foods can spread to other foods, causing food poisoning.

Limit food spoilage and loss of nutrients:  Each type of food has different preservation needs. Food classification helps preserve food properly, helping food to last longer and not lose nutrients.

 Reduce the stimulation of fruit ripening:  Some ripe fruits can produce ethylene gas, stimulating unripe fruits to ripen faster. Sorting fruits helps control the ripening process of fruits, avoiding food waste.

To classify food in the refrigerator, follow these steps:

1.  Check the expiration date:  Check the expiration date of food to classify food that needs to be used immediately and food that can be used later.

2.  Sort by origin:  fresh food (meat, fish, eggs, vegetables and fruits) should be sorted separately from processed food and frozen food. This helps prevent cross-contamination between foods.

2.1.  Raw food:  Raw food can contain harmful bacteria. If not separated, bacteria from raw food can spread to other foods, causing food poisoning.

2.2.  Prepared foods:  Prepared foods have been cooked or prepared. Prepared foods may contain bacteria, but these bacteria are destroyed during the cooking or preparation process. However, bacteria can still enter prepared foods if they are not stored properly.

2.3.  Frozen foods:  Frozen foods may contain bacteria, but the bacteria are frozen and cannot grow. However, bacteria can still enter frozen foods if they are not stored properly and thawed at the right temperature.

3.  Note the expiration date on food containers:  Note the expiration date on food containers to easily control the expiration date of food, avoiding using expired food.

How to preserve food in the freezer.

Storing food in the freezer is an effective and safe method of food preservation. Freezers can store a wide variety of foods, from meat, fish, vegetables, bone broth to processed foods. Storing food in the freezer saves time shopping and preparing food, while minimizing food waste. However, to ensure safety and maintain the nutritional value of food, storing food in the freezer should follow these principles: 

Do not let food block the refrigerator vents.

Make sure the storage in the freezer does not exceed the capacity of the device, the vents are not blocked, frozen. The vents of the freezer help circulate air, ensuring the temperature in the refrigerator is even. If food blocks the vents, the refrigerator will be overloaded, reducing performance and consuming more electricity, and affecting the safety   and quality of the food being stored.

Food stored in the freezer must be packaged:

When unpackaged food is exposed to cold air below 0°C, the water in the food will begin to sublimate and form ice crystals on the surface of the food. These ice crystals will absorb moisture from the food, leading to dehydration, making the food dry, hard, changing color and possibly reducing the nutritional value of the food. Therefore, when storing food in the freezer for a longer period of time, all food should be wrapped in suitable freezer packaging to help prevent food from losing moisture. 

Labeling of preserved foods

Similar to storing food in the refrigerator, labeling all food in the freezer will make it easier to find when needed. Be sure to clearly label the food, the date it was frozen, and the expiration date.

Safe defrosting

Thawing meat safely will help prevent the growth of bacteria. Thawing   can be done in the refrigerator, microwave or oven. It is best to thaw meat in the refrigerator, on a plate or rimmed tray to ensure the best quality of the food is maintained. Thawing time will depend on the size of the food. However, it is not recommended to thaw meat by leaving it at room temperature for long periods of time, as this can create conditions for microorganisms to grow during the thawing process.

Avoid re- freezing thawed foods. 

Refrigerating thawed food multiple times can cause the food to lose nutrients, flavor, and even become contaminated. To avoid this, cut/chop food into serving sizes for each serving. This will help you use up all the food in one defrosting session, avoiding the need to refreeze thawed food.

References

 1. Commissioner, Office of the. “Are You Storing Food Safely?” FDA, November 2, 2023. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/are-you-storing-food-safely.

 2.  “How to Store Vegetables to Keep Them Fresh - Unlock Food.” Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Cooking-Food-Preparation/How-to-store-vegetables-to-keep-them-fresh.aspx.

 3. “Say NO to Food Waste! | FAO.” Accessed December 22, 2023. https://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/1258723/.

 4. UNL Food. “Home Food Storage,” March 21, 2019. https://food.unl.edu/free-resource/food-storage.