salmonella – in thriver words

Hot Enough for You

When cooking, it’s important to know if it’s hot enough for you. I’m not talking about the weather. There’s no question there. The weather’s so hot that the patio may be as likely to burn you as the grill. I’m talking about the temperature of food.

Partially sliced cooked roast in front of roaring fire.

In order to kill bacteria that cause foodborne illness, foods need to be heated to a certain temperature. You may be familiar with the minimum safe temperature for hamburgers since some states have laws that require they be cooked well-done or 160°+ degrees. But other common cuts of meat and poultry have safe temperatures as well.

The easiest safe temperature to identify is that for eggs. When both the white and yolk are cooked firm, an egg is safe to eat. For dishes that contain raw eggs, a temperature of 160° is ideal.

Ironically, eggs are also the most common deliberately undercooked food. Right now, 7-minute, jammy eggs are popular. It’s routine to add raw eggs to protein shakes and hangover cures. And over-easy eggs have been a breakfast staple forever.

While there are some beef and fish dishes that are designed to be eaten raw, they require a higher grade of ingredients and careful handling that we may not choose to follow. For the general cooking most of us do, the following safe internal temperatures apply.

Beef: Ground 160°; Roast 145°; Steak 145°

Casseroles with raw meat or eggs: 165°

Chicken and Turkey: 165°

Eggs: Firm yolk and white

Egg Dishes: 160°

Fish: 145° or until flesh is no longer translucent

Ham: 145°; Precooked Ham USDA inspected 140°; Uninspected to 165°

Pork: Steak 145°; Roast 145°; Chops 145°; Ground 165°; Sausage 165°

Rabbit and Venison: 160°

Shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Scallops: Cook until flesh is pearly or white and opaque

Clams, Oysters, Mussels: Cook until shells open

The most accurate way to determine internal temperature is to use a meat thermometer. Many ovens include a temperature attachment for convenience. Thanksgiving turkeys often have a pop-up thermometer inserted when they’re purchased.

I have several thermometers. Only one of them is dishwasher safe. It’s the one that gets the most use for obvious reasons.

Burger on sesame bun with condiments, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and cheese in front of roaring fire.

Do all cooks use thermometers? Definitely not. Some go by time or color. And some just go by feel. Grillers often use these techniques for determining when to remove food from the grill. Moms cooking frozen food that has a caution that it must reach a certain temp are likely to rely on the recommended microwave or oven time.

Consuming undercooked food or raw eggs won’t necessarily make you sick, but it does put you at greater risk of illness from Salmonella, E-coli, Staphylococcus, Campylobacter, Listeria, and Clostridium botulinum (botulism). If you’ve ever had one of these, you’re most likely already concerned and aware.

If you grew up in a family that has lax food safety, you can reduce risk from adopting the recommended standards and making sure the food is hot enough for you.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.cce.cornell.edu/attachments/19032/Game_from_Farm_to_Table.pdf?1481131140

Wash

Wash your hands. Wash your veggies. Wash your fruit. If it’s raw and you’re not going to cook it – clean it. This morning, a new list of recalls crossed my screen. It’s a good reminder that contaminated raw fruits, vegetables, and eggs can make you sick.

Instead of a quick rinse in water, consider using some kind of veggie wash product to remove an additional layer of contamination. This may not remove every organism, but it will help minimize potential exposure to undesirable substances.

In certain circumstances I wear a mask to handle fruit. I’m most likely overdoing the safety factor, but with berries that mold quickly and citrus, I’m doubly careful.

I understand the risk of inhaling enough fungus or mold to be problematic is low, but I remember my mother having a lung lavage to rid herself of a fungus growing there. Her doctors speculated that she had inhaled the fungus from unwashed citrus fruit she peeled.

Mold, fungi, and bacteria can travel in and on food. Histamines can multiply as food ages. We rely on farmers or supermarkets to handle food properly. But we should always keep in mind that the food we purchase may not have been kept at the ideal temperature. It may also be older than we imagine. And if you grow your own vegetables, cleaning removes soil as well.

In addition to the food itself, keeping utensils, cutting boards, and countertops clean will help prevent contamination from one item to the next. I know it may seem like you’re generating more dishes to wash without much benefit, but one round of salmonella will convince you the extra effort is worth it.

My great aunts used to make sure all the dishes they handwashed were rinsed in scalding water. I use this technique in the RV where I’m trying to keep the volume of water usage low. I still scrub with soap, but I want the double protection of rinsing with boiling water.

It absolutely drives me crazy to watch TV cooks wipe their hands off on a cloth towel when handling meat and then go back to handling knives and other utensils without actually washing their hands. I understand a kitchen set with rolling cameras means handwashing creates a disruption that requires more editing but showing this also teaches new or potential cooks bad habits.

Modeling healthy habits and kitchen cleanliness for our children is beneficial. We don’t want them sending us to the hospital the first time they cook us a meal! And learning by repeated, consistent example can be effective even if we don’t reinforce the lessons verbally.

I guess that brings us to the question of the five second rule. It’s not as bad as it sounds depending – how clean are your floors, do you have pets in the house, does anyone track in agricultural waste, and what is it you dropped – these are all factors that affect the safety of the policy. If you are pet free and mop often, five seconds probably won’t hurt anything.

On the other hand, if you break an egg onto the floor and do not disinfect the spill, you may contaminate other things that touch the floor.

Each of us has our own sensibilities when it comes to cleanliness. If you’re going to eat it, clean is better as long as you’re cleaning with ingestible cleaners. And high temperature cooking will kill most bacteria.

If you don’t want to wash your hands as often, wear gloves – keeping in mind that gloves can also spread contaminants from one surface to another.

In short, keeping it clean in the kitchen means wash, wash, wash.

Please Don’t Kiss the Chickens!

Please don’t kiss the chickens! Not only do we have a new rooster in the neighborhood, the CDC has warned me not to kiss it. As if I would. I know better. I grew up on a farm. I do not kiss chickens or play with piglets when the mother is around. An angry sow targeted me for death when I was three. I barely escaped and I still remember it. That was enough piglet playing for me.

Most of us are aware we should be careful when cooking eggs or chicken, but we may not think twice before taking a cute photo of the kids kissing a baby chick. It is time to think twice.
chicken
On August 30th, the CDC issued an investigation notice regarding several multi-state outbreaks of salmonella infections linked to backyard poultry. At the time there were 1003 infections across 49 states resulting in 175 hospitalizations and 2 deaths. By now, there may be more.

Salmonella can cause mild, severe, or life threatening diarrhea depending on the person infected. Chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys can contaminate their feathers, feet, beaks, and environment with salmonella even when they appear healthy and clean. People can get sick from touching coops, cages, hay, soil, feed, water dishes, and anything else in the bird’s environment even if they don’t touch the birds.

What I learned on the farm is that animals are carriers of disease so certain rules must be followed. The boots we wore in the barn came off in the utility room so we didn’t track contaminated soil into the house. Even if we had worn gloves, hands were washed thoroughly when we came in and always before cooking or eating. We wore shoes in the yard if we had dogs.

We washed our vegetables and fruits as a matter of routine. I never saw my grandmother sample a tomato or a piece of lettuce without washing it first. When we picked apples, we weren’t allowed to eat them until we got home. Huckleberries, blackberries, and strawberries had the same rule. We never placed raw meat on the same surface as the vegetables we were prepping.

As a child, I did not pick up wild animals that were sick even if they were teeny tiny and cute. If I saw a bat or possum during the day, I stayed away out of caution. That doesn’t mean I was taught to be fearful. I walked through a line of honeybees every time I went down the driveway. I didn’t run if I saw a spider or a snake as long as I determined it wasn’t poisonous.

Today, there seems to be a disconnect from these common sense rules. I now live in the city where if it’s cute most folks I know will let their kids pick it up and kiss it with no thought whatsoever. They’ll eat berries out of the farmer’s market crate without cleaning hands or fruit. But if they see a snake, bee, spider, or wasp of any kind, they run without ever looking to see whether it’s dangerous.

And there are other disconnects. Some friends who will only buy organic vegetables are quick to use wasp spray on their houses, insect spray on their skin, and Roundup® on their yards.
chickens
Perhaps a few common sense rules for disease prevention bear repeating:

Always wash your hands thoroughly using soap and water:
(Adults should supervise the hand washing of young children.)
Before eating and after using the bathroom.
After changing diapers or cleaning your toddler’s bottom.
Before preparing food, during food preparation after handling meat, eggs, poultry, fish, and seafood and again when food prep is done.
Before and after caring for someone who is sick.
Before and after visiting a hospital room.
After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing or cleaning a child’s nose.
After touching animals, animal food, animal waste, animal blankets, saddles, leashes, bedding, or hay.
After handling pet food or pet treats.
After touching trash.

To prevent spread of colds, flu, stomach viruses, hand foot & mouth disease and other illness spread through close contact:
Do not share cups and eating utensils.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces in your home (including toys), at work, and at school.
Follow hand washing recommendations and/or use hand sanitizer after contact with public handrails, door knobs, touchscreens, pens, shopping carts, elevators, remotes, vending machines, and shared keyboards and phones.
Stay home when you are sick.
Keep your child home when he is sick.
As often as possible, avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth especially when you are around someone who has a cold or flu.

To lessen the risk of giardia, cryptosporidium, campylobacter jejuni, E. coli, legionella pneumophila, hepatitis A, and salmonella:
Do not drink water from standing bodies of water or any water that may be contaminated with feces.
Try not to swallow water when swimming even in chlorinated pools.
Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly.
Follow hand washing recommendations.
Follow USDA recommendations for safe food handling.
Cook meat to the recommended temperature.
Pay attention to food recalls.
Keep farm animals out of the house.
Set aside a pair of shoes to wear while taking care of poultry and keep those shoes outside of the house.
Don’t eat or drink where poultry live or roam.
Stay outdoors when cleaning any equipment or materials used to raise or care for animals such as cages and feed or water containers.
Don’t eat after your pets.

Avoid hookworms by:
Wearing shoes when walking outdoors, especially in places that may have feces in the soil.

To avoid hepatitis B, rotavirus, diphtheria, whooping cough, pneumococcal infections, measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, polio, chickenpox, meningitis, and HPV:
Stay up-to-date on long-lasting vaccinations and consider seasonal flu shots.

To lessen the risk of rabies:
Vaccinate your pets.
Leave stray cats and dogs alone.
Leave wild animals alone. Don’t keep them as pets.
Wash animal bites and scratches immediately with soap and water.
Consult a healthcare professional if you are bitten or scratched by an unvaccinated animal.

To lessen the risk of any illness:
Keep your body healthy, robust, and ready to fight disease by getting plenty of sleep, drinking plenty of fluids, eating nutritious food, being physically active, and managing stress levels.

And finally, it’s worth taking a moment to learn about the organisms with whom we share the planet. All spiders and bees are not to be feared and all furry creatures are not safe to embrace. If you’re determined to kill all insects anyway, please remember that poison is poison whether it goes on your skin, your yard, or your food.

If you want to choose a single piece of advice to help prevent disease, take it from the CDC and please don’t kiss the chickens!

https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-19/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/food-safety/live-poultry-salmonella/live-poultry-salmonella.html

https://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/index.html

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/basics-for-handling-food-safely/ct_index

http://www.cooking2thrive.com/blog/?s=safety/

Holiday Baking – Keep it Safe!

Eating Her Curds and Whey

spider Spiders may not be the current danger for Little Miss Muffet when she eats her curds and whey. Last week, several snack cracker recalls centered around possible salmonella contamination of the ingredient whey. If you’re familiar with the nursery rhyme, you probably instinctively associate whey with milk or milk products, but what exactly is it?

Whey is the liquid that remains after you strain curdled milk. In food manufacturing, it is a byproduct of making cheese. Cheddar and Swiss cheeses leave sweet whey and cottage cheese and yogurt leave acid or sour whey.

When cheese was made at home, the remaining whey could be substituted for milk in baking. Even now, I sometimes use the liquid from yogurt in baked goods. Whey was also consumed as a beverage with honey and alcohol.

In US commercial food manufacturing, whey was a waste product dumped into rivers until the US government prohibited such dumping. Faced with a disposal problem, manufacturers began to look for other ways to use it. They first developed a filler for ice cream.

Whey’s use as a filler in convenience foods grew from there. It is now found in products that may or may not have inhabited my snack bin – things like King’s Hawaiian Bread, Cheetos, Ritz Sandwich Crackers, Goldfish Crackers, Nature Valley Protein Bars, Luna Protein Bars, Oatmega Protein Bars, Swiss Rolls, and Similac Pro-Advance Infant Formula. Whey has also become a nutritional supplement popular with bodybuilders because of its leucine content.

The primary components of whey are water, lactose, protein, fat, and amino acids. The proteins include beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin, lactoferrin, and immunoglobulins.

Three types of whey protein are produced in the food industry – Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, and Hydrolyzed Whey Protein. In theory, whey protein isolate can be safely consumed if you have lactose intolerance, but other forms of whey protein may cause symptoms.

Like most milk in the grocery store, the whey contained in convenience foods is typically pasteurized to make it less likely to harbor bacteria and safer to consume. Unfortunately, as we have recently seen, it can still become contaminated during manufacturing or packaging.

It’s no secret that I prefer fresh food prepared at home. I think it tastes better, and I feel better knowing what’s in the food. Of course that doesn’t mean that all my food will be free from a risk of salmonella, listeria, E. coli, or other contaminants.

And real life means that I sometimes reach for convenience foods. Of course, I read the labels. I have to make sure they’re free of gluten and shrimp. Right now, I’m making sure they’re free of whey.

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/

http://wheyproteininstitute.org/facts/howwheyismade/wheyproteincomponents

http://www.liquidirish.com/2012/05/whey-alcohol.html

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/whey-protein-101#what-is-it

https://www.ampi.com/home/page/130

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”