Most of us like homegrown and prepared food, but sometimes when we can them in glass containers when we have too much garden produce to eat or too much to just give away, it does not all go according to plan. There are some tried and true canning techniques that have been in use in the past century or more, but sometimes we forget to use common sense when we are canning and this can lead to mold contamination in our food that we worked so hard to prepare and preserve.
We like to can our own food because we know exactly what chemicals and pesticides are going into it. Most of us do not like the idea of chemicals being put onto our food, even if they are deemed “safe” by the government or FDA. Sometimes the chemicals that they say are safe today are not safe tomorrow. But, mold contamination can be just as dangerous as any pesticide or preservative and there are a few things that you can do as a home canner to prevent this from happening to your canned items.
Make sure that the fruits and vegetables that you are canning are of the best quality from your garden. If they have any bad spots on them, cut these off or simply do not can them. Fruits and vegetables need to be washed and some need to be peeled before you can them. Starting with good quality ingredients is key.
Do not pack the food too tightly into the jars that you will can them in. The food in the center does not get to the high temperature that it needs to in order to kill bacteria and mold spores. You should pack food loosely, with at least a few inches from the top of the jar, depending on the size that you are canning in.
After you fill the jars, put the lids and the bands on. Start processing the food immediately so that mold and bacteria do not have a chance to start growing. If mold spores get into the jar, you might have a problem, because sometimes high temperatures just do not kill mold spores. Make sure any equipment that you use is completely sterile.
If you do happen to find mold growing in a jar after you open it, just throw it away. Foods that have a high amount of moisture are not salvageable when they become contaminated.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Friday, September 28, 2007
General Rules For Mold Testing Kits
If you are unfortunate enough to have to test your home for mold, you are probably thinking that this is going to be a pretty inconvenient thing to have to do. Well, it might not be fun to think that you have disease-causing mold living in your house, but doing the actual test to determine if it exists is not really that hard to conduct at all. Whatever kind of test kit you end up using, the directions on the package must be followed to the exact letter or you will probably render the test useless. There are a few quite general rules that you should follow to get the most out of your testing kits.
If you can see the mold growing in your wall, ceilings, carpet, or on anything else in the home, you do not really have to do any guesswork as to whether you need to test the home or not. If you see anything like this, do not only test that room; test your entire home. Every room needs to be tested and this includes the ventilation system, because it extends to every room in the house and if mold is growing in the vents, it will spread to the rest of the house.
Run the air conditioner or fans in every room in your home before you put out the test kits so that if there are any mold spores in the room, they will be stirred up into the air and will settle down in the kit. Do not set them up anywhere high; a coffee table or somewhere around the mid to low level of the room should be fine. If you set them up too high, you may not get a good sample.
If there happens to be mold growing visibly on anything, you can use a piece of scotch tape to lift the mold up off the surface and place it into the test kit. There is a method that you can use involving scraping some of the mold into the kit with a knife, but since this can stir up mold spores even more, unless you are wearing a respirator, you are probably better off using the tape method.
To test the ventilation system, the best thing that you can do is tape a test against the grill of one of the ventilation ducts so that the air coming out of it is hitting the testing kit at a 90 degree angle. This will allow you to get the maximum amount of exposure.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
If you can see the mold growing in your wall, ceilings, carpet, or on anything else in the home, you do not really have to do any guesswork as to whether you need to test the home or not. If you see anything like this, do not only test that room; test your entire home. Every room needs to be tested and this includes the ventilation system, because it extends to every room in the house and if mold is growing in the vents, it will spread to the rest of the house.
Run the air conditioner or fans in every room in your home before you put out the test kits so that if there are any mold spores in the room, they will be stirred up into the air and will settle down in the kit. Do not set them up anywhere high; a coffee table or somewhere around the mid to low level of the room should be fine. If you set them up too high, you may not get a good sample.
If there happens to be mold growing visibly on anything, you can use a piece of scotch tape to lift the mold up off the surface and place it into the test kit. There is a method that you can use involving scraping some of the mold into the kit with a knife, but since this can stir up mold spores even more, unless you are wearing a respirator, you are probably better off using the tape method.
To test the ventilation system, the best thing that you can do is tape a test against the grill of one of the ventilation ducts so that the air coming out of it is hitting the testing kit at a 90 degree angle. This will allow you to get the maximum amount of exposure.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Cleaning Out Your Refrigerator
I love my food, but unfortunately, if I do not remember to keep my refrigerator cleaned out regularly, mold loves my food, too. Often people who have busy lives working and taking care of children cannot remember to clean their refrigerators out as often as they probably need to and since they have more people in the house to feed, there will also be more food. More food in the refrigerator equals more of an opportunity for bacteria and mold to grow. This is not typically a problem as long as someone keeps an inventory of what is in the refrigerator and what needs to be thrown away. You cannot completely keep mold out of your refrigerator because it exists in its spore form in the air that we breathe and unless we are talking about an extremely controlled situation like a hospital clean room, it is truly everywhere. There is not really any escaping it and while mold can grow in your fridge, you can do things to inhibit its growth rate.
Take anything that is outdated and obviously inedible out of your refrigerator and throw it away. Cleaning out everything from the refrigerator and setting it aside to go through later is a good idea when you need to clean out the entire refrigerator and sterilize it. Gather whatever chemicals you might want to use for cleaning the fridge and while this can include bleach, you might want to find another alternative that kills mold and bacteria specifically. If you only have bleach, though, go ahead and use it; just do not mix bleach with any other household chemicals.
Wash all the surfaces in the refrigerator with whatever cleaning solution you have decided on, including the racks in the door and the shelves and drawers inside the main part of the unit itself. Give it a good and thorough scrubbing. This is probably something that you should consider doing between two and three times a year or possibly more, depending on how messy your fridge gets.
When you are done cleaning the inside of the refrigerator (and the outside, if it needs it), it is time to go through what you took out. Take anything that you no longer desire and is no longer edible and throw it away. If any jars have any sticky residue on the bottoms of them, wash these off with a warm rag so you don’t get sticky grape jelly or whatever it is back on the surface of your clean fridge.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Dallas Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Take anything that is outdated and obviously inedible out of your refrigerator and throw it away. Cleaning out everything from the refrigerator and setting it aside to go through later is a good idea when you need to clean out the entire refrigerator and sterilize it. Gather whatever chemicals you might want to use for cleaning the fridge and while this can include bleach, you might want to find another alternative that kills mold and bacteria specifically. If you only have bleach, though, go ahead and use it; just do not mix bleach with any other household chemicals.
Wash all the surfaces in the refrigerator with whatever cleaning solution you have decided on, including the racks in the door and the shelves and drawers inside the main part of the unit itself. Give it a good and thorough scrubbing. This is probably something that you should consider doing between two and three times a year or possibly more, depending on how messy your fridge gets.
When you are done cleaning the inside of the refrigerator (and the outside, if it needs it), it is time to go through what you took out. Take anything that you no longer desire and is no longer edible and throw it away. If any jars have any sticky residue on the bottoms of them, wash these off with a warm rag so you don’t get sticky grape jelly or whatever it is back on the surface of your clean fridge.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Dallas Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
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