Living with kidney disease requires careful attention to many aspects of life, including dietary choices. While maintaining a nutritious diet is important for overall health, individuals with kidney disease face unique challenges in ensuring food safety to prevent complications and support kidney function. In this blog post, we’ll explore some essential tips for maintaining food safety while managing kidney disease.
Food safety is important with kidney disease. It helps to reduce the risk of foodborne illness (or food poisoning). With kidney disease, if you experience food poisoning you can become dehydrated which can damage the kidneys. As a result, it is important to follow safe food handeling and cooking practices with kidney disease.
Practice Proper Food Handling
Foodborne illnesses can be particularly dangerous for individuals with kidney disease, as they may have weakened immune systems as well. To minimize the risk of foodborne illness, you can follow the 4 food safety tips of: clean, separate, cook, and chill.
Clean
- Wash your hands thoroughly before handling food, with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
- Clean your kitchen including countertops, cutting boards, sink and faucet, digital food thermometer and utensils with a clean disch cloth, soap and water before and after cooking.
- Ensure that all fruits and vegetables are washed with water before consumption. You do not need to clean meats.
Separate
- When grocery shopping, place vegetables on the top rack of your grocery cart and meats on the bottom. This helps to reduce cross contamination. Remember to use bags for your meat.
- Use different coloured cutting boards. For example green for vegetables and fruit and red for meats.
Cook
- Cooking meat, poultry, and seafood to their recommended internal temperatures using a digital meat thermometer helps to kill harmful bacteria.
- Keep hot food hot at or above 60°C (140°F) before serving. Bacteria grow rapidly when food is allowed to sit in the ‘danger zone’ which is between 4°C (40°F) and 60°C (140°F). Â
Chill
- Put away groceries that belong in the fridge and freezer right away. The refrigerator should be set at 4°C (40 °F) or lower and the freezer at -18°C (0°F) or lower. Â
- The best way to thaw foods is in the refridgerator over night, in cold water, or in the microwave. Do not thaw foods on the counter.
- Put leftovers away within 2 hours of cooking (or less if in a warm environment) to prevent them from going into the danger zone for temperature.
Food Safety Starts With You
Maintaining food safety is essential for individuals living with kidney disease to prevent complications and support overall health. By following these tips you can enjoy a nutritious and safe diet that supports kidney function and enhances quality of life.
