June 15, 2006
Is Your Food Safe?
According to food safety and public health experts, millions of illnesses in this country can be traced to foodborne bacteria each year.
Consuming contaminated foods or beverages causes Foodborne illness or "food poisoning". Pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of developing foodborne illness.
During the summer months, foodborne illnesses are more prevalent than at other times of the year. Primarily, this is due to foods being left out of refrigeration for many hours; for example, at picnics, barbeques, and when traveling.
What You Can Do To Keep Food Safe:
CLEAN: Wash hands and surfaces often, thoroughly and properly.
• Wash all surfaces of hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds.
• Rinse fresh fruit and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten. Rub firm-skin fruits and vegetables under running tap water or scrub with a clean vegetable brush while rinsing with running tap water.
SEPARATE: Don't cross-contaminate. When handling raw meat, poultry (ptarmigan, geese...), seafood (fish, shrimp, crab...), and eggs; keep these foods and their juices away from ready-to-eat foods.
• Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in your grocery cart, grocery bags and your refrigerator.
• Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood.
• Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood, or eggs.
COOK: Cook to proper temperatures. Generally, meats and seafood should be cooked to at least 145°, poultry and leftovers to 165°, and pork to 170°.
• Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of cooked foods.
• Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating.
CHILL: Refrigerate promptly. Refrigerate foods promptly because cold temperatures slow the growth of harmful bacteria. Keep refrigerator temperature at 40° or below. The freezer should be kept at 0° or below.
• Never let raw meat, poultry, eggs, cooked food or cut fresh fruits or vegetables sit at room temperature more than two hours before putting them in the refrigerator or freezer.
• Never defrost food at room temperature. Food must be kept at a safe temperature during thawing. There are three safe ways to defrost food: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave. Food thawed in cold water or in the microwave should be cooked immediately.
How To Prevent Botulism, a deadly disease:
1. Wash your hands, containers, and food before you start preparing food.
2. Use proper methods when you prepare your Native foods. Eating fermented food has some risk of botulism. To reduce your risk, ferment food by using the traditional method of a grass-lined hole in the ground. DO NOT USE PLASTIC OR GLASS CONTAINERS. Use salt when drying fish. Salt is a natural preservative and reduces the chance that botulism will grow.
3. Ferment food at a cold temperature. Keep food cold by fermenting it in the ground away from the sun.
4. Boil your food before eating it. Boiling fermented food for 10 minutes can destroy the botulism poison.
5. When in doubt, throw it out.
It is much better to throw out food that might be contaminated than to eat it and get sick or lose the life of a loved one.
Source CDC: " A Helping Hand: Keeping your family safe from botulism".