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New Issues With Food Safety

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Kathie Smith, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Jan. 3--There are three food safety issues to consider in the New Year.

?One is multitasking, especially in the kitchen. Women and men juggle craft making, cooking and baking, helping with homework, talking on the phone, folding laundry, paying bills, and even caring for pets. At a time when doing two or three things at once seems so efficient and so very popular, cooks need to think food safety first, multitasking later. When your hands are full, they may not be clean. According to the American Dietetic Association/ConAgra Foods Survey, nearly half of all survey respondents say they neglect to consistently wash their hands after performing kitchen tasks. "Hand washing is the leading way to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria, especially important during the winter cold and flu season," says registered dietitian Jackie Newgent, spokesman for the ADA/ConAgra Foods food safety program. If you must multitask, remember to wash hands between each chore, especially if one of your tasks involves meal preparation. ?A second issue is food safety for pregnant women, whose weakened immune systems make it harder to fight food-borne microorganisms, according to Chow Line, an Ohio State University publication. There are three specific food-borne risks to be aware of: 1. Listeria is a bacterium, although rare, that can grow on foods even when refrigerated. It is commonly found in refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods and unpasteurized milk and dairy products. Pregnant women should steer clear of hot dogs and lunch meats unless they are heated to steaming hot. And unless they are made with pasteurized milk, skip soft cheeses such as feta, brie, bleu cheese, queso blanco, queso fresco, and panela. Stay away from refrigerated pates or meat spreads unless they are in a cooked dish; and raw unpasteurized milk. 2. Don't eat large, long-lived fish, such as shark, tilefish, king mackerel, and swordfish, which can contain high levels of methylmercury. Albacore (white) canned tuna tends to have higher levels, so restrict your intake of it to one meal per week. 3. Toxoplasma (a parasite) can be found in undercooked meat, unwashed produce, soil, or dirty cat litter boxes. For additional information visit Food Safety for Moms To Be at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~pregnant/ ?The Ohio Grocers Association and the Ohio Food Industry Foundation have developed the Retail Food Defense Preparedness Guide, which allows retailers to assess their overall security and helps them create a food defense/security plan if they do not already have one. "It includes all aspects of the business from how you lock the doors to the water you use for cooking," says Tonya Woodruff, director of the foundation. The guide is available on CD-ROM through county health departments. It will be distributed to all retail food establishments in Ohio over the coming months during local health department inspections. The guide creates a greater awareness of food security and helps retailers understand their vulnerable areas, says Tom Jackson, president and CEO of the grocers' association. It also gives organized steps in responding to issues.

Kathie Smith is The Blade's food editor. » E-mail her at food@theblade.com » Read more Kathie Smith columns at www.toledoblade.com/smith

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Source: The Blade

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