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Food Safety
Food-borne illnesses accounts for 76 million
illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, 5,200 death, and up to $23
billion in avoidable health care costs each year in the United States.
These alarming facts were presented by Dr. Mark McClellan,
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a recent
speech to Harvard's School of Public Health (July 1, 2003).
A major goal of the FDA is to increase public
awareness of the invisible cause of food-borne illness—micro-organisms
that make food unsafe when the four basic messages, Clean,
Separate, Cook, and Chill, are not followed. Listed
below are Four Steps To Food Safety that we can take to help prevent
food-borne illness in the home:
Clean! Everything that touches food should be
clean. Cleanliness is a major factor in preventing food-borne illness.
Even with food safety inspection and monitoring at Federal, State, and
local government facilities, the consumers have the role of ensuring
that food is handled safely after it is purchased.
Separate! Fight cross-contamination!
Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria to food from
other foods, cutting boards, and utensils. An example of
cross-contamination is cutting raw meat, poultry, or fish on a cutting
board and then slicing salad vegetables on the same cutting board
without washing the cutting board between uses.
Cook! Use a food thermometer in cooking.
Using a food thermometer is the only way to tell if food has reached a
high enough temperature to destroy harmful micro-organisms. Use a food
thermometer to measure the internal temperature of foods, such as
meat, hamburgers, poultry, egg casseroles, and any combination dishes
to ensure that a safe temperature is reached and that harmful bacteria
like Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 are destroyed.
Chill! Make sure the temperature in the
refrigerator is 40 °F or below and 0 °F or below in the freezer. Use a
refrigerator/freezer thermometer to check the temperature. Harmful
bacteria grow most rapidly in the Danger Zone—the unsafe temperatures
between 40 and 140 °F—so it's important to keep food out of this
temperature range. Refrigerate or freeze perishables, prepared food,
and leftovers within 2 hours of purchase or preparation, or within 1
hour if the temperature is above 90 °F. Thaw food in the refrigerator.
For quick thawing, submerge in cold water in airtight packaging, or
thaw in the microwave, and cook the food immediately.
Links for further information
FightBac.org -
Partnership for Food Safety Education
FoodSafety.gov
- Government Food Safety Information
Reference
FDA website, July 1, 2003 (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/list.html)
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