Easter Safety

Brookside Fire Company would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Easter.

Easter Egg Safety Tips

If you're planning an Easter egg hunt or cooking eggs, here is some advice to help you keep your family safe from food borne illness throughout the Spring celebrations.

"Hard-cooked eggs for Easter and Passover celebrations should be prepared with care."

If you plan to eat the Easter eggs you decorate, be sure to use only food grade dye. (Some people make two sets of eggs - one for decorating and hiding, another for eating. Others use plastic eggs for hiding.)

For an Easter egg hunt, avoid cracking the egg shells. If the shells crack then bacteria could enter and contaminate the egg inside. Also, hide eggs in places that are protected from dirt, pets and other bacteria sources and keep hard -cooked eggs chilled in the refrigerator until just before the hunt. The total time for hiding and hunting eggs should be no more than two hours. Then be sure to refrigerate the "found" eggs right away until you eat them. Eggs found hours later or the next day should be thrown out — not eaten!

If that egg sits out at room temperature for more than two hours, it should not be eaten.

Since the hard-cooked eggs that are usually served to each person as part of the special dinner are meant to be eaten, keep those hard-cooked eggs in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

When shell eggs are hard-cooked, the protective coating is washed away, leaving open pores in the shell where harmful bacteria could enter.

Be sure to refrigerate eggs within two hours of cooking and use them within a week.

Check your refrigerator temperature with an appliance thermometer and adjust the refrigerator temperature to 40°F (Fahrenheit) or below.