Food safety is not simple; and please, stop yelling
When people write using exclamation marks, especially in an e-mail or web-based postings, they seem to be yelling,
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At the reader.
At me.
The U.K. Institute of Food Science & Technology issued an update yesterday on avoiding cross-contamination in the home. Why did the group specifically target the home and not include food service and retail? No idea.
I won't bicker with the advice -- although in some cases it seems excessive and culled from brochures rather than actual observation. For example, under handwashing, the report says,
"Wash hands, including finger-tips, thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and dry them thoroughly before you start preparing food. Do this repeatedly during food preparation - after every interruption and always if you have had to change the baby's nappy or have been to the toilet; or after combing or touching your hair, nose, mouth or ears; or after eating, smoking, coughing or blowing nose; or after handling waste food or refuse; or after handling dirty cloths, crockery etc; or after shaking hands; or after touching shoes, the floor or other dirty surfaces. After preparing raw foods such as fish, meat, or poultry, wash your hands again before you start handling other foods. Rings can harbour germs - remove them before preparing food!
Twenty seconds of handwashing -- which is itself excessive -- is further excessive after simply scratching (not picking) my nose. I'm sure that will spark some hate mail. We were talking about that yesterday during my presentation at the Alabama Food Safety and Defense Conference in Montgomery, AL, yesterday.
But look at that exclamation mark. Gives it the ring of a fascist line-dancing instructor barking out orders.
The document concludes by stating,
If you suspect cooked, or ready-to-eat food might be contaminated, don't serve it or eat it!
Remember:
Food-poisoning is preventable - avoiding cross-contamination is simple and important!
Food safety is not simple. And save the exclamation marks for the truly exclamatory.
Bad advice from the UK Food Standards Agency
London's Sunday Times ran a little puff piece -- and with spring coming in the Northern Hemisphere there will be many more -- that said food safety problems are primarily caused by eating food already past its shelf life, cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods (often involving poor hygiene) and eating food that was either not cooked or not stored properly.
Um, fresh fruits are vegetables are the leading vehicles of foodborne illness today.
Simple precautions include avoiding cooking food that’s about to go off and making sure you dry your hands properly after washing them – far more bacteria are spread from damp hands than dry hands.
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The story cites the U.K. Food Standards Agency as a source for additional information. FSA tells folks,
"If you are checking a burger, sausage, or a portion of chicken or pork, cut into the middle and check there is no pink meat left. The meat should also be piping hot in the middle. If you're checking a whole chicken or other bird, pierce the thickest part of the leg (between drumstick and thigh) with a clean knife or skewer until the juices run out. The juices shouldn't have any pink or red in them."
This is bad advice. Color is a lousy indicator of doneness using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer is the only safe way to determine is food has reached a safe temperature.
And just what is piping hot?
"To test if food has been properly cooked, check that it is 'piping hot' all the way through. This means that it is hot enough for steam to come out. Cut open the food with a small knife so that you can check that it is piping hot in the middle. Generally, if food is piping hot in the middle, then it will be piping hot all the way through. … Some foods change colour when they are cooked. Looking at colour is especially useful for checking meat."
I wonder how much money was spent on consultants, and how many salaries sat around a conference table, to conclude that consumers weren't bright enough to understand more accurate messages that would actually protect their well-being.
Stick it in.
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Home test kit for E. coli and Salmonella?
Magna Medical Services (MMS) is pumping out the press releases following high profile outbreaks. These dudes have been around for a while, and usually after every outbreak they fire out something about testing your food with their high-powered testing. Today's says:
With the recent string of food recalls, food and health retailers are scrambling to offer instant food testing kits for E.coli and Salmonella manufactured by Magna Medical Services, Inc. MMS Quick Results Food Testing Kits are home food test kits for E.coli and Salmonella.
“Retailers will be able to sell home kits for E.coli and Salmonella to clients that need to quickly check their food areas and food products for possible bacteria outbreaks,” says Robert Greene, General Manager for Magna Medical Services, Inc “This is a product that should be right next to every home first aid kit.
They also put out releases following the 2006 spinach-linked E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, and another that cites "recent E. coli outbreaks that have affected the Northeastern United States" back in January. Seem to be capitalizing on public interest in food safety, but I have lots of questions about the product.
Does this product even work (and how would we know)?
Where is the data (because it's not on their website)?
How sensitive is it?
What's the utility of using quick strips on food in your home?
How do you sample food in your house?
What would happen if a firm,or a temporary food stand, or my mom used these strips, the results showed no contamination, and the food still resulted in an outbreak?
Maybe it's a good tool, but without some of these questions answered I file MMS into the huckster category, capitalizing on food safety hysteria. Maybe MMS have some good answers, and I welcome any comments on this product here on barfblog.
Some of my food microbiologist friends are struggling with figuring out the best way to use traditional, labour-intensive methods of sampling different foods (especially produce) and there are disagreements on sample preparation. Seems MMS has got it all figured out. And only for "less than $4 USD"
I think what MMS is trying to sell is a magic bullet -- test with our strips and you can be sure about your food. And without the data, I'm not sure they can say that, I don't believe that there are magic bullets in food safety, it's not that simple.
