This morning I took the Food Handlers class at Family Health Services in Hillcrest. The class was $25 and was about 3 hours. All people who work in food services have to either take this class or their employer can become authorized to teach the class. I think most employers have their students take the class on their own.

There were three English speaking students in my room, both people who work at Sycuan Casino. There were about 10 Spanish speaking students in the next room over. I briefly thought about joining the Spanish language class to hang out with them (they looked like they were having more fun!), but decided against when I remembered there would be a test at the end.

The class was about ways to keep from contaminating food and ways to keep the micro-organisms already on food from growing enough to make you sick. To keep things from being contaminated, don't touch the food with anything that has not been well washed. Since your hands are the main dirty thing likely to touch the food, they thoroughly emphasized washing your hands. Wash them for 15 seconds with hot water and soap, then don't touch anything with them, especially your face and hair. Your punishment for doing so is that you have to wash your hands again.

And to keep the micro-organisms already on food from growing too much, you have to keep it out of the "danger zone". (You remember that song from the movie Top Gun... don't deny it!) This applies mostly to moist, protein rich foods that are good breading grounds for the micro-organisms. Meat and eggs are ideal. The danger zone is between 41 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure that food is delivered at the proper temperature, that it is immediately stored at the proper temperature, and that as little time as possible passes between removing it from storage and cooking it. We're not talking about a couple minutes, but more like leaving the meat on the counter for an hour, putting a big pot of sauce in the refrigerator that takes hours to cool, or defrosting a chicken a room temperature. An hour isn't even that bad, but anything over four cumulative hours in the danger zone and you're looking for trouble.

Meat specifically has to be cooked to a high enough temperature to kill some of the micro-organisms living in it: chicken to 165 degrees, pork to 155, ground beef to 157, and eggs to 145. Restaurants can only serve eggs with runny yolks if specifically requested by the client and if they have a disclaimer about the risks of salmonella. Apparently 1 in 20,000 eggs is likely infected, but it's unlikely to kill you unless you are very young, very old, or have a weak immune system.

Here are some final notes. To defrost meat, put it in a pan in the fridge because it will drip. You can also defrost it under cold running water if you are in a hurry. Use the microwave to defrost it only if it will be cooked right away. Reheat meals to 165 degrees. Only reheat food once and only freeze food once. Steam tables must be at least at 135 degrees. When cooking large quantities, do it in batches so that ingredients don't stay on the counter for too long. If you wear jewelery or artificial fingernails, you must wear gloves. To cool food, put it in an ice bath an stir or put it in smaller containers and refrigerate.