While giving Christmas cookies to loved ones could seem like a good pick-me-up with 2020 coming to it's long-awaited end, there are some precautions you should take amid the coronavirus pandemic.
When preparing food for others, it's always important to wash your hands and use clean surfaces, but these concerns become even more important in the midst of a global health crisis.
Tamika D. Sims, senior director of food technology communications at the International Food Information Council, has suggested that keeping things clean when giving food to others is always important - not just while we're in a pandemic.
"Keeping the process clean is top tier advice when preparing food for yourself and especially when preparing to gift food to others," she told Huffington Post. "Washing your hands is always important to reduce any germ transfer from you to a food or vice versa."
There is no evidence to suggest that coronavirus can be transmitted by handling or consuming food, but you want to make sure the people on the receiving end of your gifts feel comfortable.
Jessica Briggs, a clinical fellow in infectious diseases at UC San Francisco, told Huffington Post, "My advice would be to ask if they are OK with receiving baked goods as gifts. Then everyone will feel better about the giving and receiving."
As it turns out, the real transmission danger comes after the goods are baked.
"Practically the only way transmission might occur is if you sneeze or cough on the packaging and the person receiving the gift touches the packaging in less than 24 hours and then touches their nose, mouth, or eyes," Briggs said.
Briggs also suggested that what you bake at home is just as safe as store-bought goods - as long as you clean all of your surfaces before baking on them.
"If you suspect a person has not been using proper safe food handling practices, it is best to not eat food they have given you," she said.
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