If you are like thousands of St. Johns County residents, you enjoy the restaurant quality of our local food. St. Johns County restaurants accommodate a diverse menu for the most discriminating taste buds! Most residents enjoy a night out and/or lunch at our restaurants.

As fun as it is to eat at restaurants and/or take out food, it is important to make sure that we don’t get sick from it. Here are some important points when eating out:

• If the dining room doesn’t look clean, leave! We hear this often but there is wisdom and safety in it. Most likely if the dining area is dirty, then the kitchen area must be also.
• No rare meats or runny eggs! Make sure your order is cooked thoroughly.
• Make sure your food is prepared to the right temperature. Question lukewarm food and ask for the food to be reheated to piping hot temperatures when being served.
• Special order your food so that you know it is being made fresh especially at fast food restaurants. This way you won’t eat something that has been sitting around too long.

When you get home with the leftovers, make sure you refrigerate within two hours and one hour if the food has been exposed to over 90 degree weather. Don’t take the leftover home if you have to run lengthy errands. Remember that two hour rule!

Make sure you date the left over container especially if you are freezing the food. And always use refrigerated leftovers within three days. When in doubt, throw it out!

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