In the midst of the largest egg recall in recent history and a recall of tainted deli meat from Walmart shelves, nervous shoppers may be wondering what they can do to certify that the products they buy at the grocery stores are safe.
Food safety officials continue to point out that consumers can take the most important food safety measure at home, by keeping foods at the right temperature, buying pasteurized dairy products, keeping hands and food preparation surfaces clean and avoiding cross-contamination by allowing contact between raw meats and other foods.
But there are also steps that the consumer can take at the grocery store to avoid problems, said Oscar Garrison, assistant commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture in the consumer protection division.
With daytime temperatures above 90 degrees, "the grocery stores needs to be the last trip of the day," Garrison said. Shoppers should get those groceries home in a timely manner, and if they live any distance from the store, they should bring a cooler in the car to keep dairy products and meat cool.
"It doesn’t take long in a 95-degree car to drastically reduce the shelf life of a product like milk," he said.
Other tips:
- Shoppers must wash those reusable grocery bags, Garrison said. If liquid from a package of raw chicken leaked on a previous trip, it could contaminate other groceries.
- If you do your own bagging at the self checkout lane, separate meats from other foods, and separate cleaning products from food products.
- Shoppers should wash vegetables before they eat them -- even fruits with rinds such as cantaloupe and watermelon, Garrison said. When the melon is sliced, bacteria on the exterior can be pushed into the interior by the knife.
All recalls of food products are listed on the Department of Agriculture website, www.nasda.org/cms/8759.aspx.
There are also useful food safety guidelines for handling, cooking and storing food, at /www.foodsafety.gov/
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