Another day, another food recall.
It seems that outbreaks of illness connected to foods contaminated with dangerous pathogens are in the headlines more often than ever. Most recently cantaloupe grown in Colorado and infected with listeria bacteria was implicated as the culprit in nearly a dozen deaths and over 60 illnesses in 19 states.
“This cantaloupe thing is a real mess,” said Dr. Michael Doyle, microbiologist and food safety expert with the University of Georgia. He cautions that even thorough washing of contaminated cantaloupes may not help because he believes that the listeria might be on the inside.
“It may be internalized," he said. "The bacteria can get into the flesh when warm fruit from the field is washed in cold water dump tanks.”
So what about cantaloupe on the menu today? According to Steve Patricio, chairman of the Center for Produce Safety's Advisory Board, concern has lessened because there is no more fruit from the affected Colorado farm on the market now.
Doyle, who has been a leader in detection and prevention of bacterial contamination of meat and poultry, says produce is now the leading cause of food-borne illness. He cites a recent recall of romaine lettuce in the U.S., a United Kingdom outbreak of E.coli in raw leeks and potatoes and the outbreak of a virulent strain of E.coli in fresh sprouts in Germany this summer, which sickened over 4,000 people and killed nearly 50.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new Food Safety Modernization Act, aimed at food handling, focuses first on fresh produce rules. Doyle points out that part of the reason there have been more outbreaks in the news is due to better testing.
“Within the last three to five years, surveillance systems have been so good we pick up more," he said. "They would not have been detected before.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 76 million cases of food-borne illness in the U.S. each year. While there are no current figures for how many of those cases were caused by restaurant foods, a CDC analysis of national food-borne outbreak surveillance data shows that percent of outbreaks reported between 1998 and 2004 were associated with restaurants, delis, cafeterias and hotels.
The restaurant industry is all for reducing these numbers and has stepped up efforts to train employees in food safety. With sanitation inspection scores on display for customers to see, it’s good business to get good grades.
“I wouldn’t eat anywhere with a sanitation score lower than an A,” said noted food safety expert Missy Cody, a professor emeritus Georgia State University.
Some foods are riskier than others. Raw or undercooked meats (especially ground meat), poultry and eggs should be avoided as well as unpasteurized dairy products such as raw milk cheeses. Some foods should be prepared separately to avoid cross contamination of other foods. For instance, cooks should never cut up a raw chicken and then use the same knife to slice into a tomato they’ll toss into the salad.
Fresh produce: Since you're not going to ask for your salad to be cooked, fruits and vegetables eaten raw are a concern, given the outbreaks traced to produce grown or processed in unsanitary conditions. Thorough washing can reduce contamination but does not eliminate it entirely. It's hard to scrub the inside of a melon. That's why keeping produce properly chilled -- under 40 degrees -- is important to retard the growth of bacteria which may be present. A cold salad is a safer salad. Cody said, "If any of the salad greens are soft and mushy or look deteriorated, send the salad back and tell them you don't want another one!"
A shot of booze won't help: "Bourbon doesn't kill bacteria. Neither does wine or beer," said CiCi Williamson of the USDA Food Safety Hotline.
Take care of carryout: Leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours. Reheat leftovers to 165 degrees until hot and steaming. Wilted salads should be discarded.
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