Precarious prep food can cause poisoning Stacie Peart Arts Editor Americans have evolved into creatures obsessed with food Eating food not eating food and in some cases wearing food For a alot alot alot lot of people its it's all they think about The holidays bring about a time where entire celebrations revolve around food Thanksgiving has changed from a day to t to remember the historically inaccurate tale of how the American Indians first broke bread with a bunch of disease of-disease disease infested Europeans But the holiday is now more about giving thanks for all the glorious food that Grandma slaved over and the whole family eats in about 12 seconds Christmas is no different Most winter holiday celebrations center around a style potluck-style meal that's unsafely cooked placed on the table in a room temperature incubator called a house and left out outto outto outto to grow all the bacteria necessary to give someone a nasty case of food poisoning According to the US U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Food Information Council Foundation Most foods will naturally contain organisms that might cause illness unless the organisms are washed off the food hands and utensils are killed by thorough cooking or are kept from growing by keeping the food cold White While sanitization products are readily available many people dont don't completely understand the risk of improperly handling food Problems can also start with the production of the food When we have a problem we have big problems problems' said Dr Di Jerry R. R Nelson Lab Director for Nelson Laboratories Inc Because of the centralization of the food industry Nelson said that food contaminated with a hazardous organism now affects a lot more than just one or two batches of food All the food prepared or packaged in a facility can become contaminated because it takes only one step to contaminate the entire product Each year 76 million cases of food poisoning are reported These alarming numbers could even be higher since it is difficult to indicate how many individual cases cases ases of food poisoning there are since many cases are re not reported With the numerous ways people can get food poisoning smart food preparation cooking and storing c can can n prevent many differ different nt types of f organisms from making their way into the food on the dinner table One of the most problematic food preparation practices is cross contamination This happens when foods are mixed together Cross contamination can happen with certain types of beef since numerous cows are used when making ground beef The problem comes when the meat from one ne' ne cow has an organism and its it's mixed with the meat from several other cows during the ground beef manufacturing process Just one bad apple or in inthis inthis inthis this case cow contaminates all the meat and can make hundreds or thousands of people sick Prevention for cross contamination on the cooks end is usually simple Wash all utensils and dishes between preparing meats vegetables and other foods Blenders can create a big food poisoning problem since the whole idea is behind the blender is to mix different types of foods together Another common practice that can trigger cross contamination is when a colander is used for raw meat an and vegetables A colander used for rinsing one food should be washed afterward to prevent one food from contaminating another The same idea should also be used with cutting boards Chopping carrots on the same surface as the chicken could get someone sick but cleaning the surface will remove many of the organisms Food Prep Continued on page 10 h r J i ft r. r tr Il h d A Ah ly 4 ti Rr 9 t F Tile File Photo While preparing food this holiday season cook thoroughly to avoid health hazards Proper Food prep Continued from page pace 1 that cause food poisoning Cooks usually differ on the type of surface they'll use during preparation and one of the common misnomers about preparing food is that plastic is the safest cleanest material for a cutting board But to dismiss this belief The New York Times reported in t 1993 that an accidental find by Dr Dean O. O Cliver and Nese O. O Ak at the University of Wisconsin's Food Research Institute dispels this idea The two microbiologists discovered that wood cutting boards kill food poisoning bacteria that survive very nicely on the plastic boards The idea that wood wasn't wasn clean because raw foods food's juices would soak into the wood and be nearly impossible to remove was proved incorrect by Cliver and Ak After being contaminated by food poisoning causing organisms Listeria Salmonella and coli percent of the bacteria died off within three minutes on the wooden boards while none of the bacteria died on the plastic ones ones nes While Cliver noted that Wood may be preferable in that small lapses in sanitary practices are not as dangerous on wood as on plastic but he also s said id that cleaning the boards between foods is essential Unsafe fe preparation habits ts such as cross contamination and improper sanitization of cooking items can put all at risk but learning the proper cooking temperatures for each type of meat can make food safe Modern conveniences such as a meat thermometer can also aid in food poisoning prevention But in order for this to be affective the thermometer has to be working correctly You should test your thermometers before hand said Kevin Jensen Technical Training Coordinator for Nelson Laboratories Inc To testa test a meat thermometer for accuracy Jensen suggests suggests' boiling oiling a tl a pot of f. f water andt placing 9 t thermometer in the water If the thermometer reaches the boiling point around 96 95 degrees in in Utah its working if the thermometer is off ofT by even a few degrees this can be potentially risky Properly cooking food can often oilen be the only barrier between getting sick and staying healthy Dangerous heat sensitive organisms like Clostridium or botulism are usually killed during the cooking process Botulism toxin is the most powerful toxin known to man Jensen said Basically one one or a millionth of a gram gramis is enough to kill a human being So one gram is enough to kill a million people Most of the people infected with Botulism get it from uncooked canned foods reiterating the fact that it is necessary to cooking foods properly Its those people who whoop op open n cans and taste the food before they cook it beans or tomato sauce usually end up developing botulism poisoning Jensen said Nelson also believes that Botulism poisoning is potentially one of causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome The symptoms of Botulism poisoning according to online are I c breathing L d m th I t lead t tory failure and temporary lack of breathing and could dould could possibly explain n the the lai caused by where infants die without warning usually during sleep Since children are one of most risk at-risk groups for food poisoning certain kinds of foods should be avoided Honey is a no no-no for ch children under two and other meals for children also should be prepared correctly Along with children the elderly women who are arc pregnant people who are compromised such as transplant patients and those who are already sick can also be more susceptible to the organisms that cause food poisoning than those i who are healthy Other high risk foods that should be cooked are and eggs Eggs carry salmonella because the organism infects the ovaries of the chicken The salmonella is in the egg and should make the idea of eating raw cookie dough a alot alot alot lot less appealing like ground beef are arc made up of many different animals so their likelihood of contamination is greater Refraining from eating uncooked foods and also cooking food at their proper temperatures can decrease the risk of organisms surviving surviving in food Cooking H. H i. i g S ms meat and poultry accurate accurately 1 1 is defense a Another prevention te technique properly storing f foo food cooked or uncooked Ra Ra 3 meats that are contaminated contaminate with salmonella can drip i ithe in inthe 1 the refrigerator The dr drips pi can get on other foods foods li like R vegetables or container such as soda cans Thes These items have a higher risk c df not being cooked or washed before they are arc eater eaten Keeping the potentially drippy foods at the bottom of the refrigerator keeps th the cross contamination to ij minimum Correct f food od storage isn't always within the control o othe of the consumer The food i is ig packaged in large factories n shipped to grocers an stored in display case cases Looking at expiry dates an and packaging can help whether a product is wort purchasing 3 Dairy meat and other perishables start going bad the instant they hit nit th the shelves Looking for th the thi latest expiry date allow allow the consumer time to us usg use the food before it spoil spoils Another tip for food safet safety and being frugal is to purchase perishables that th the tha household cannot eat within a week So that seemingly insignificant date on the yogurt container might b ba be bea bea a little more important than shoppers realize II I I II I I