Health Options
Toxic microbes found
in some surprising foodsThis month already has been busy for those tracking the villains of food safety. The Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration both issued reports indicating a number of outbreaks related to E. coli O157:H7, listeria and salmonella.
In some of the food-poisoning outbreaks, deaths resulted, including stillbirths and miscarriages.
Question: What foods were the most likely carriers?
Answer: There have been numerous culprits. E. Coli, listeria and salmonella have been found in beef and various types of alfalfa and bean sprouts. Processed luncheon meats also have been found to have contamination problems.
Q: What are the typical symptoms?
A: Symptoms can vary from a mild fever and muscle aches to severe flu-like symptoms. Nausea and diarrhea also may occur. In severe cases, the infection can cause more serious symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions.
Q: Who is at the greatest risk?
A: Most of the documented outbreaks reported to the CDC were in the northeastern United States. However, the elderly, pregnant women, children or people with weakened immune systems are at increased risk of a foodborne disease becoming life threatening.
Q: How can a person be sure their food is perfectly safe?
A: Perfectly safe food doesn't exist, but reasonably safe food does. It is not reasonable that most people will grow, harvest and process their own food. But here are some food handling tips to decrease the chances of food intoxication.
1. Before handling foods, wash hands and wrists while humming the "Happy Birthday" tune at least twice. While handling foods, any time you sneeze or touch your hair, face, or the phone, repeat hand-washing for at least one verse.
2. Always be sure that cutting boards, knives and utensils are cleaned thoroughly at the start of food preparation. Prevent cross-contamination by cleaning knives and cutting boards after dealing with each food item, especially between cutting meat and vegetables.
3. Cook ground meat thoroughly. Use a digital instant meat thermometer to ensure that the internal temperature reaches at least 160 degrees. Leftovers should be heated to 165 degrees, poultry pieces (breast and thigh) to 170 degrees and whole poultry to 180 degrees.
4. Heat processed meats, including deli meats and hot dogs, until steaming. It may be time to start a hot-sandwich trend for food-safety reasons.
5. Wash hands after handling open hot dog or lunch meat packages or cracking eggs.
6. Wash raw vegetables thoroughly.
People in higher risk groups should consider additional safeguards:
1. Avoid raw (unpasteurized) milk or foods made from raw milk.
2. Avoid soft cheeses such as feta, Brie, Camembert and blue-veined cheeses. Cheeses that are processed, such as cream cheese and cottage cheese, are more safe, as are harder cheeses like cheddar, Swiss and mozzarella.
3. Avoid raw sprouts unless you are willing to heat them. This includes organic sprouts and even sprouts grown from seeds at home.
4. See the FDA's Web site, www.fsis.usda.gov for more information.
Health Events
Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S., is a sports nutritionist in the
Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Science,
University of Hawaii-Manoa.Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., is a food and nutrition consultant
and owner of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.
She is also responsible for the nutritional analyses
indicated by an asterisk in this section.