Do you know if what you’re eating is safe? From food recalls to salmonella-tainted eggs, we've all seen the outcome of foodborne illness in the news. Find out how to protect yourself from food poisoning - and what to do when an outbreak occurs...
Eggs, unfortunately, aren't the only source of foodborne illness.
A farm grows alfalfa sprouts next to a chicken coop, exposing them to poultry feces. A filthy truck contaminates a load of spinach.
Or a worker at a cookie-dough factory doesn’t wash his hands after visiting the bathroom.
Do you know how or even think about how food is handled before it gets to your table? Probably not.
Trouble is, what you don’t see can be hazardous to your health.
Foodborne illnesses costs the U.S. $152 billion in health-related expenses every year.
An outbreak can wreak havoc on our public food safety system, make favorite foods the enemy and even take lives.
But you can't rely on the government to protect you.
That's why we've asked top food-safety experts about how you can avoid food poisoning.
What’s Making You Sick?
Many different bacteria can leave you wishing you’d never touched that peanut butter sandwich.
The three most commonly linked to food poisoning are salmonella, campylobacter jejuni (“Campy” or C. jejuni), and Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (E. coli).
All are found in underprocessed foods – including unpasteurized milk and uncooked poultry or red meats – and can easily travel to fruits and vegetables.
These bacteria stem from feces and can linger on hands and skin unless washed off, says Sam Beattie, Ph.D., a food safety specialist at Iowa State University.
They can easily contaminate almost anything, from spinach touched by fecal run-off to poultry crowded into filthy sheds.
Here’s a rundown on all three bacteria:
Salmonella
The most frequent cause of food poisoning, salmonella causes about 40,000 complaints to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 400 deaths annually.
Symptoms of food poisoning show up within 6-48 hours of eating a contaminated food. Salmonella causes “copious, watery diarrhea,” Beattie says. It can dredge up stomach cramps, fever and vomiting too.
Salmonella infection usually doesn't kill, but it can be deadly if it enters the bloodstream and spreads to tissues throughout the body. Then it can lead to other serious infections, such as:
Meningitis, which affects the brain and spinal cord
Endocarditis, which targets the lining of the heart or its valves
Osteomyelitis, which seeks out the bones or marrow
It can also lead to reactive arthritis, which can cause painful joints and urination, and irritated eyes.
C. jejuni
These unpleasant bacteria, the second-leading cause of food-borne illness, don’t receive much media attention since most outbreaks are sporadic and isolated. The bacteria enter the cells of the gut, causing severe diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever.
The illness will usually begin 2-5 days after eating a contaminated food, and recovery can take up to 10 days, a long time for food poisoning.
In rare cases C. jejuni leads to a rare autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the body attacks its nerves, possibly resulting in temporary paralysis and requiring intensive care.
E. coli
This bacteria, usually associated with ground beef, vegetables and fruits, has been responsible for the most Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalls and receives the most media attention. Yet it infects only about 1 out of every 100,000 people exposed to it.
High-profile outbreaks have involved organic bean sprouts (Germany, 2011), cookie dough (Nestle Tollhouse, June 2009), ground beef (JBS Swift Beef Co., June 2009), green onions (Taco Bell, 2006) and bagged spinach (Mission Organics, 2006).
E. coli 0157:H7, the most common infectious strain of the bacteria, causes severe bloody diarrhea, pain, vomiting and usually little to no fever.
Infected people can also develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), in which E. coli bacteria enter the blood stream and destroy red blood cells. The damaged cells clog the tiny renal blood vessels, leading to kidney failure.
Protect Yourself
Even if you don't know how your food is processed or grown, you can ward off foodborne illnesses.
Here are seven food safety tips to outsmart the harfmul microbes lurking in your food:
1. Turn Up the Heat
Cook poultry to 180 degrees and meat to about 160 degrees, advise Purdue University food safety experts.
“Cooking to the recommended temperatures will kill" the bad organisms, Beattie says.
But use a food thermometer, not your eyes, to be sure it's done, says Catherine H. Strohbehn, Ph.D., a food-safety specialist and professor at Iowa State University. “Color is not a true indicator of ‘doneness.’”
Most fish should be cooked to 140 degrees, but tuna, swordfish and marlin only have to be cooked to 125 degrees.
2. Chill It Right
Protect meat before it hits the grill, advises Jeff Nelken, a food-safety expert and coach who works with restaurants and the Los Angeles Health Department.
“Invest in a $3 or $4 thermometer for your refrigerator to make sure it’s working at the right temperature,” he says.
Bacteria multiply rapidly at 45-140 degrees, so set your fridge to 41 degrees or lower. And always store raw meat and poultry separately from foods that won’t be cooked. Leave them on low shelves in the fridge, to prevent juices from spilling into other food.
Eggs can be carriers of foodborne illness, so handle them with care. Under new federal proposals, egg producers would be required to test regularly for salmonella, buy chicks from suppliers who do the same and keep eggs refrigerated on the farm and during shipment. (Only half of the egg industry currently takes these measures voluntarily.)
Here are some food safety steps to take at home:
Buy refrigerated grade AA or A eggs with clean, uncracked shells and keep them in a refrigerator no warmer than 40 degrees.
Use raw-shell (uncooked) eggs within five weeks of purchase and hardboiled eggs within one week of cooking.
Avoid keeping raw or cooked eggs and foods containing eggs (like dough or potato salad) out of the refrigerator for more than two hours (including time for preparing and serving).
Remember to wash eggs – even if you’ve just been handling the uncracked shell – since contamination is usually found on the shell. That’s because an egg exits a hen’s body through the same passageway as feces.
3. Avoid Cross-Contamination
After Nestle recalled its cookie dough in 2009, the FDA advised people not to eat or even cook the dough. Cooking would have killed the bacteria, but getting dough on your hands or kitchen counters would still be dangerous.
Surfaces you cook and cut on can harbor bacteria from contaminated food. To avoid cross-contamination, keep raw and cooked meat separate.
Iowa State’s Strohbehn, for example, carries the meat to the grill on a cutting board covered in wax paper. Then she tosses out the wax paper and carries the cooked meat back on the clean board (or you can use two plates). You can also:
Designate specific platters, cutting boards and utensils for raw meat only.
Clean all hard surfaces that come into contact with raw meat. Use hot, soapy water or try a chlorine mixture of one tablespoon bleach to one gallon of water.
Buy new cutting boards when they develop cuts or grooves that are hard to clean. Bacteria will multiply in those areas.
Also, disinfect sponges − which Nelken calls “bacteria traps” − in the dishwasher or a bleach solution at least every other day, and replace them every week or two. Sponges transport bacteria: Say you sponge off the plate that held raw chicken breasts. Then you wipe down your counter or a set of glasses and voila! The bacteria in the chicken is now smeared all over those surfaces.
4. Scrub Your Hands
The best food-safety tip: Wash your hands before cooking and eating. But “splash-and-dash” won’t cut it, Strohbehn says. Wash your hands with antibacterial soap and lather for 15 seconds − sing a verse or two of your favorite song − before you rinse.
5. Wash Uncooked Food
Wash food you’re working with, especially fresh produce - even the pre-washed kind, Strohbehn advises. “There are always certain levels of bacteria present on it.”
The FDA advises washing produce thoroughly under running water just before eating and cutting away damaged or bruised areas.
That even includes vegetables you plan to peel. Firm produce, like melons and cucumbers, should be scrubbed with a produce brush, available at most grocery stores.
Although the FDA doesn’t recommend washing produce with regular soap or detergents, special “produce washes” can be slightly more effective than water alone.
But you can save your pennies by using a vinegar or lemon juice spritz, followed by running water. To reduce bacteria even more, dry the produce with a clean cloth or paper towel. Here are more food safety techniques for produce:
Buy unbruised and undamaged fresh produce (even if it’s discounted). Bacteria thrive in those cracks and moist places.
If fruit is pre-cut (like a fruit salad or half a watermelon) make sure it’s refrigerated or packed in ice.
6. Understand Your Risk
Children under 9 years old, pregnant women, people with HIV or compromised immune systems and people older than 65 are vulnerable to complications from foodborne infections, such as severe dehydration, and may have to be hospitalized.
Pregnant women and the elderly should avoid packaged lunchmeats and egg dishes that might have runny undercooked yolks, Strohbehn says. And children should never drink unpasteurized apple juice or milk drinks on field trips to farms or county fairs.
Anyone at high risk should see a doctor if they suspect food poisoning, says Walid Alali, Ph.D, a professor at the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.
Also, check the FDA’s Web site frequently for warnings of outbreaks. And know that most foodborne illnesses can be prevented at home with a little common sense and good hygiene.
7. If You Still Get Sick, Know How to Respond
In most cases, foodborne infections go away in several days with a little R&R – rest and rehydration.
“Rehydration is critical when vomiting and diarrhea are involved,” Beattie says. But don’t overwhelm your system with liquid, which might make you vomit more. Sip water slowly but frequently.
You may want to reach for Imodium (loperamide hydrochloride), a drug to control diarrhea, but first speak to a doctor, the CDC says. Medications for diarrhea slow digestion, allowing bacteria to remain in your body longer and raising the risk of kidney infection.
Call your doctor if blood appears in your stool or if your diarrhea or fever lasts more than two days.
Antibiotics won’t help E. coli infections. They may work for salmonella, but many strains have become resistant to them, says Alali.
If you believe you have a foodborne bacterial infection, alert your local health department, Nelken says. Officials may open an investigation, particularly if others have reported similar health issues.
What’s Your Food Safety IQ?
Food poisoning, whether contracted in a restaurant or in your own home, is never fun. Are you unnecessarily putting yourself at risk?
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