Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership | Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership

Celebrating the holidays with family and loved ones is one of the best times of year to enjoy great company and even better food!  Entertaining creates different challenges in the kitchen than normal meal preparation. The quantity of food and how it is served requires special attention to ensure food safety.

Some safety tips are even more important when entertaining because of the quantity of food prepared.  One of the golden rules is to keep ‘hot foods hot’ and ‘cold foods cold’:

• Do not let foods linger during preparation - cook them thoroughly and serve them quickly.  Consider cooking foods in smaller batches, and replenish serving dishes when quantities getting low.  
• Keep hot foods hot with warming trays or crock pots. 
• Antipasto plates with vegetables, dips, cheeses, and deli meats are a favourite. Keep the platter fresh by replacing containers of dips and other foods, not replenishing them.  Also keep the platter on ice to keep cold.
• Do not leave food out for more than two hours.
• Use leftovers within four days for best quality or freeze immediately for later use. Reheat solid leftovers to at least 74°C or 165°F until “steaming” hot.
• When frozen food such as meat is thawed, cook immediately after thawing. Allow sufficient time for food to defrost properly.  If not completely thawed, the food will take longer to cook.

Meat should be cooked to a minimum of 74°C or 165°F. You cannot determine whether meat is done by simply looking at the colour of the meat or juices, so use a food thermometer (see our cooking temperature guide).

 For more food safety tips or to test your knowledge in Maple Leaf’s food safety quiz.

 From our family to yours, wishing you a safe and wonderful holiday season.

In a recent government research study nearly seven-in-ten (69%) people said they wished they had more information about food safety, including how to protect themselves and their families from foods that pose a health risk. The vast majority - 75% - said they want to get this information through the Internet. 

Over the past year we’ve looked at lots of ways to reach people about the importance of food safety. It’s not an easy topic and not one we own (people want to hear from agencies responsible, like Health Canada or CFIA), but one where we can and will contribute. There’s lots we can and are doing to become a global food safety leader and it’s our job to make food as safe as possible, but there’s also lots that consumers can do to further protect themselves and their families and practice good food safety. 

This week we launched a new Maple Leaf website which is a huge leap forward in reaching consumers. Its taken us over two years in the making and it’s a great site with neat gadgets like meal planning tools, recipes, cooking and shopping tips, and most importantly food safety insights through clicking on “food safety at home” at the top right of the home page.  

I think this website is one of the coolest food sites out there, it’s interactive, informative and highlights where Maple Leaf is going as a company.

We hope you will visit and welcome your feedback!!

At Maple Leaf, our commitment is to do everything we can to make our products safe for consumers. Just as we take precautions to ensure our products are safe, we encourage you to do the same when preparing, cooking, and storing food.  In keeping with our mandate of becoming a leader in food safety education, we have launched a new website to help consumers understand the important role of food safety at Maple Leaf and in your homes.

Aside from information on what we do to manage food safety, you can surf the new site for information on food safety in the home, including a virtual tool demonstrating food safety in the kitchen, proper cooking temperatures, tips and a food safety quiz. 

We hope you will visit and welcome your feedback on the new site.