The question is: How fresh is the food?

Often buying ready-made foods from some supermarkets comes with a degree of risk. Recently 100 people in the UK were hospitalised with salmonella poisoning after they consumed a readymade salad and some kind of pesto containing pistachio.

Of course, a health risk comes with all kinds of readymade foods and from all establishments but some categories may be more likely to come with risks than others and they’re usually in the cold foods or the cold cuts section. Cold foods include salads, pre-cut fruits and meats that have been pre-cooked and pre-cut and then cooled off.

The risks come from several sources. For example, if the food is meant to be consumed cold, maybe it was refrigerated incorrectly. Some foods that have been cooked need to be refrigerated after they’ve cooled off first. So if they’re refrigerated immediately, the temperature in the fridge might have dropped because piping hot food’s gone into it.

If the food went in at the right time, maybe the temperature of the fridge could have been off in the first place. Sometimes the food is left to cool off on the counter for too long causing bacteria to begin to grow.

I tend not to buy pre-cut fruit or vegetables because I read somewhere that the contamination risks of such foods comes from two key sources. First, if an unclean knife has been used to cut the fruit or vegetable and, secondly, if someone didn’t wash their hands or wear gloves.

The problem is that sometimes no gloves are worn at all so the risk of bacterial infection increases from the excessive handling involved. Cold meats should really include sushi as well. Because of the nature of the food, the chef cannot wear gloves and everything is done with bare hands and a knife. You hope that the chef will have washed his hands before getting to work because he won’t be wearing gloves.

Another risk is the salad bars at pizza outlets. Several years ago in the UK there were quite a few cases of stomach upsets after people consumed their salads. Aside from the possibility of the knife not being clean or being used for multiple purposes, and then not being cleaned, and aside from maybe the kitchen staff not washing their hands properly, the chances are that the salad wasn’t washed properly, or at all. Food outlets, whether in supermarkets or restaurants, need to work fast to get their food ready for their customers and washing a ton of vegetables is time consuming.

But in all fairness, cold foods are not the only risk. I feel any readymade food items we purchase come with some risks. I once bought Chinese food from a food court, and within hours of purchasing, the noodles had gone off and began to smell. They were either far too old or were maintained at the wrong temperature or were contaminated at the outlet.

There are, of course some things one should look out for when buying any food item, whether it’s tinned, vacuum packed or sold fresh and whether it’s hot or cold. I like to avoid foods that involve a lot of handling after being cooked. I avoid buying foods in tins that have been dented. When I buy milk, I like to buy one with today’s date, if I can.

I never buy eggs that are cracked, not even those with hairline cracks. I also like to check the feel of the bottle for how cold it is. If it’s not that cold, it means that it was either not transported in a properly temperature controlled vehicle or the shop’s fridge has an issue.

A good way to determine if the fridge has a problem is to check other items like frozen fish, vegetables and ice creams. If the packaging is caked in ice then there’s a problem with the temperature of their fridge. Ice creams, of course, are a gamble. Even if the shop temperature is good, at the time of purchase you won’t know that when it was made the temperature could have been wrong, that is until you open it and find it’s just ice inside.