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Food makes the holidays more festive. At this time of year you enjoy family dinners, church potlucks, office parties, buffet lunches, cookie exchanges, and cups of cheer. Gifts are exchanged, too, and food poisoning is the “gift” you don’t want.
Though it’s relatively rare in the US, food poisoning can happen to anyone, according to MedlinePlus. That doesn’t mean much if you’re the one who gets it. You may get food poisoning at home or while traveling. Each year 60-80 million (that’s MILLION) people around the globe get food poisoning.
If you’ve had food poisoning you know it’s awful, so awful you thought you were going to die. Some people do die. The FDA says food poisoning is especially threatening to kids five years old and younger, and the elderly. E.coli can cause hemolyptic uremic syndrome, which can lead to kidney damage and, in some cases, death.
The symptoms of food poisoning are nasty: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headaches, and weakness. Food poisoning strikes within two-to-four hours after eating contaminated food and it can last as long as 10 days. Prevetion is the best defense against food poisoning.
Mayo Clinic, in an Internet article called “Serve it Up Safe: 8 Ways to Prevent Food-Bourne Illness,” lists some prevention tips, such as washing linens often and washing equipment, including your meat thermometer, in hot, soapy water. To be in the safe side, the article says you should reheat leftovers to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Practice safe food handling during the holidays. Unsure about what to do? The USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service has published a colorful booklet called “Cooking for Groups.” You’ll find the booklet on www.FoodSafety.gov. You’ll find additional information on www.fightingbac.org. And follow these tips to keep your tummy safe during the holidays.
AT HOME
1. Wash your hands well before handling food.
2. Use paper or cloth dishcloths, not sponges.
4. Separate raw foods from ready-to-eat foods.
5. Store washed produce in a different container, not the original.
6. Keep cold foods at 40 degrees or less.
7. Keep hot foods at 140 degrees or more.
8. Double-bag leaking meat and poultry packages or seal them in plastic wrap.
9. Thaw meat and poultry in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
10. NEVER eat frozen meat, poultry or fish that has been thawed and refrozen.
11. Check internal temperature of meat and poultry with a thermometer.
12. Use a clean spoon every time you taste food.
13. Clear leftover food quickly and refrigerate.
AT WORK
1. Ask a knowledgable person to be in charge.
2. Refrigerate donated food immediately.
3. Wash hands before handling food. (Buy several bottles of hand sanitizer.)
4. Label foods so people know what they’re eating.
5. Tell people if food contains nuts or soy.
6. Serve food in small batches, not all at once.
7. Keep mayonnaise-based foods icy cold.
8. Keep hot foods really hot.
9. Don’t leave food out for more than two hours.
10. Provide clean storage containers for leftovers. Write the food and date on all containers.
11. Discard food that hasn’t been refrigerated for more than four hours.
1. Check to see if food handlers are wearing plastic gloves.
2. Find out if the food handlers are handling money. (Money is often contaiminaed with human feces.)
3. Is there a cough shield over the food table?
4. Skip the salad bar if the ingredients aren’t on ice.
5. Check to see if the restaurant has a clean plate policy for additional servings of salad.
6. Don’t eat salad dressing that’s in open bowls on the table.
7. Make sure hot food is kept in warming pans, kettles, and hot plates.
8. Each dish should have its own serving spoon or fork.
9. Servers should bring buffet foods out in small batches.
10. Does the menu say all beef will be cooked to medium temperature?
11. Hamburgers should be cooked until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.
12. Write the food and date on your doggie bag/box.
“Everyone is at risk for foodbourne illness,” according to the FDA’s Food Safety Education Website. That makes food safety your business. Call the local public health department if you see unsafe food practices. And follow the FDA’s advice during the holidays: When in doubt throw it out!
Copyright 2005 by Harriet Hodgson. To learn more about her work go to http://www.harriethodgson.com/.
Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists. Before she became a health writer she was a food writer for the former “Rochester Magazine,” in her hometown of Rochester, MN. Her 24th book, “Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief,” written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from http://www.amazon.com. A five-star review of the book is also posted on Amazon. The book is packed with Healing Steps – 114 in all – that lead readers to their own healing path.
Apart from saving you money, making your own baby food provides fantastic nutrition for your little one and gives you peace of mind. After all you know exactly what’s gone into your baby’s food, how it was prepared and the quality of ingredients used.
OK, enough of the serious stuff for a while. Now it’s time for some frivolity in the form of cooking a couple of good chicken recipes. Here’s a two of my favorites. I hope you will like them too.
Remember that in order to keep your chicken bacteria free and to avoid all forms of food contamination please adhere to all the principles frood hygiene essentials stated throughout this blog.
Chicken Fillet Snitzels
This one’s so easy
Ok, Bascially you need to serve about 3-5 pieces per person to really sastisfy the apetite.
So work out how many pieces you need and then flatten the fillets gently between a plastic sheet (I prefer using a rolling pin for this).
Ingredients:
Chicken fillets.
3-4 eggs
1 cup of flour
bread crumbs
salt & pepper
sesame seeds.
Italian Herb mixture (optional).
We have already covered how to prepare the Fillets so I won’t go into that again. Next you will need 3 bowls or plates. In one you put the eggs which you will beat, in another the flour and in the last the bread crumbs, sesame and herbs. Add a little salt and pepper to the flour and to the crumbs.
Take each fillet individually and flour. Ater flouring dip into the egg. Shake off any excess liquid and place into the bread crumbs. Cover the fillet with the crumbs and press lightly. Remove onto a clean and dry tray or plate and repeat the precedure until all the fillets are breaded. If you have a lot of pieces you can divide the layers by using grease proof paper or baking paper.
To avoid the possibility of bacterial growth within the chicken or cross contamination between the eggs and the chicken keep the preparation time as short as possible. Twenty minutes should be ample time for this process and it will help to prevent the the devision of bacteria. Wile you are breading the shnitzels start to heat your oil. The time interval between finishing breading and frying should also be as brief as possible. It you can, serve straight from the frier, if not keep at a temperature of at least 65 degrees celsius until served. Any leftovers should be cooled and refrigerated to avoid bacterial contamination.
Now take a frying pan and add about 1/2cm. of cooking oil. Heat and fry the snitzels on both sides until golden brown. Serve with fries , rice or pasta. Add a little lemon and your favorite dip to the side of the plate. Don’t forget to eat plenty of fresh vegetable salad at least once a day.
Chicket Fillet Fajitas in fried Tortillas
My Personal Recipe
This recipe make a great main course, Brunch or between meal hunger stopper.
For this you will need about 5 fillets per portion.
Other Ingredients:
1 medium tomato (sliced) per 2 portions
1/2 green pepper per 2 portions(sliced)
1/2 medium sized onion per 2 portions(sliced)
Tomato puree
1-2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
Cumin
Chopped corriander
Corn starch
Cooking oil
Chilli Pepper or sweet chilli pepper sauce.
Tortillas
Equipment:
2 frying pans.
Before you start to fry rub the bottom of the pan with the garlic cloves. Slice the chicken fillets length ways and fry on a deep skillet. Add the onions and work in stir frying carefully for about 1 minute. Add peppers stir frying for about 1 minute also. Now add the tomatoes mixing gently until they begin to show signs of softening. Add salt & black pepper to taste. Put in about 1/2 teaspoon of cumin per 2 portions (reducing by 1/4 teaspoon for each 2 extra portions added). Add the chilli pepper or sweet chilli sauce. Add a little tomato puree to intensify the colour.
Now blend in the chopped corriander adding an ammount according to your own taste preference. Add a little sugar if the mixture needs it. Because you are going to fill the tortillas with the fajitas mixture it needs to be a little firm so mix a teaspoon of corn starch diluted in a little water into the fajitas to make the sauce a little less runny. Put the tortillas onto a table and fill them lenghwise with your fajitas mix. Roll them up gently making sure not to split them. Add a little beaten egg onto the lip of the tortilla and set aside. Now heat another frying pan with about 11/2 cm. of coking oil. Heat to a temperature of the oil 150 degrees centigrade Now add your tortillas to the oil carefully taking care not to get burned or to spill the content of the tortillas out. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove and place on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil. Serve on lutuce with salza mexican rice or fries. Buon Apetite
Campylobacter is one of the most common bacterial causes of gastro intestinal diarrheal sickness in the United States of America. The vast majority of these cases occur as isolated and sporadic events and not as part of recognized epidemic like outbreaks. Ongoing surveillance by FoodNet demonstrates that about thirteen cases are diagnosed each year for each 100,000 persons in the population. Many more cases go undiagnosed or unreported, and campylobacteriosis is estimated to affect more than 2.4 million persons each year, or 0.8% of the total population of the USA. This disease is also very common in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Campylobacteriosis occurs far more frequently in the summer months than in the winter months. The organism is isolated from infants and young adults more frequently than from persons in other age groups and from males more frequently than females. Although Campylobacter does not commonly cause death, it has been estimated that approximately 124 persons with Campylobacter infections die each year in the USA.
Campylobacter organisms are spiral-shaped bacteria that can cause disease in humans and animals. Most human illness is caused by one species, called Campylobacter jejuni, but human illness can also be caused by other species. Campylobacter jejuni grows best at the body temperature of a bird, and seems to be well adapted to birds, who carry it without becoming ill. These bacteria are fragile. They cannot tolerate drying and can be killed by oxygen. They grow only in places with less oxygen than the amount in the atmosphere. Freezing reduces the number of Campylobacter bacteria on raw meat.
Almost all persons infected with Campylobacter recover without any specific treatment. Patients should drink extra fluids as long as the diarrhea lasts. In more severe cases, antibiotics such as erythromycin or a fluoroquinolone can be used, and can shorten the duration of symptoms if given early in the illness. Your doctor will decide whether antibiotics are necessary.
Most people who get campylobacteriosis make a complete recovery within two to five days after the onset of symptoms, although sometimes in more serious cases recovery can take up to 10 days. Rarely, Campylobacter infection results in long-term consequences. Some people may develop arthritis. Others may develop a rare disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome that affects the nerves of the body which begins several weeks after the onset diarrheal illness. This occurs when a person’s immune system is triggered to attack the body’s own nerves which results in temporary paralysis that lasts several weeks and usually requires an intensive care regime. It is estimated that approximately one in every 1,000 reported Campylobacter illnesses leads to Guillain-Barré syndrome. As many as 40% of Guillain-Barré syndrome cases in this country may be triggered by campylobacteriosis.Campylobacteriosis usually occurs in single, sporadic cases, but it can also occur in outbreaks, when a number of people become ill at one time. Most cases of campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these poultry items. Infants may get the infection by contact with poultry meat wrappings in shopping carts. Outbreaks of Campylobacter are usually associated with unpasteurized milk or contaminated water. Animals can also be infected, and some people have acquired their infection from contact with the stool of infected dogs or cats. The organism is not usually spread from one person to another, but this can happen if the infected person is producing large volumes of diarrhea and/or vomit. A very small number of Campylobacter organisms (fewer than 500) can cause illness in humans. Even one drop of juice from raw chicken meat can infect a person. One way to become infected is to cut poultry meat on a chopping board, and then use the unwashed chopping board and knife or other utensils which came into contact with the raw meat to prepare vegetables or other raw or lightly cooked foods. The Campylobacter organisms from the raw meat can by these means spread to the other food products.
Many chicken flocks are infected with Campylobacter but may very well show no signs of illness. Campylobacter can be easily passed from bird to bird through a common water source or through contact with infected feces of other birds. When an infected bird is slaughtered, Campylobacter organisms can be transferred from the intestines to the meat. Likewise, the bacteria can infect a whole batch of birds via the presence of the bacteria being present on equipment and on the hands and/or the gloves of the slaughter house workers who do not wash hands between each bird they handle. In 2005, Campylobacter was present on 47% of raw chicken breasts tested through the FDA-NARMS Retail Food program. Campylobacter is also present in the giblets, especially the liver.
Unpasteurized milk can become contaminated if the cow has an infection with Campylobacter in her udder or milk which has been contaminated with manure. Surface water and mountain streams can become contaminated from infected feces from cows or wild birds. This infection is common in the developing world, and travelers to foreign countries are also at risk for becoming infected with Campylobacter.
Today’s blog entry is going to be a bit different from the type of article I have written up to this point but I hope that you will find it interesting nonetheless. We all need food to survive and we need a varied, balanced diet of good quality food to survive and prosper. In this modern world that we live in we tend to see food as a mere commodity, something that we need, that we can’t do without. Most of us shop very differently to the way our grandparents would have shopped not so many years ago. We scurry around supermarkets piling products into a huge metal basket on wheels. Our food is stuffed into plastic containers, tin cans, foil wrappings and waxed cardboard with little thought to what the substances that those packagings are actually doing to our food.
As a spiritual person I am very much aware that our food has within it the spirit of the beings that lived before us and now make up the matter which we call earth. Food has dynamic energy and still interacts with it’s surroundings both during it’s growth phase and after it has either been harvested of slaughtered. To my intense disappointment and distress our food is not shown the respect it deserves from many of those who grow it and process it.
One thing that we need to remember it that the energy that is held within our food goes into our bodies and is assimilated into our body tissues for energy, growth and maintenance. The quality of the food we eat in terms of energy has direct bearing as per the quality of the end product that we are able to produce. This could for structural purposes, for cognitive purposes, for defence purposes and a range of other things.
For many of us the option of owning our own private vegetable patch and private orchard is not really within the realms of possibility but farmers markets are popping up all over the place that offer produce that has been grown organically with more positive emotion, slaughtered more humanely with far less stress and packed and processed in a much more tranquil and positive surrounding by people who truly love what they do. Processed products on offer in farmer’s markets can incluse produce such as could breads,cheese, pickles, jams, cakes, pies, sausages, hams and many many other types of pre prepared produce.
Similarly, restaurants can be very stressful places, particularly in the kitchen area. Although a chef may strive to present you with a dish that is a veritable work of art, the human interaction inside the kitchen is very often very stressful and generally negative with a lot of shouting, cursing, sometimes violence, humiliation, emotional castration, jealousy, hate, resentment, exploitation, degredation, disrespect and more. Believe me, I have worked in quite a few kitchens and I have seen a few things.
The intent that the chef has in creating his dish is spoiled and cancelled out by the general ambiance with the kitchen and the restaurant. Personally I can sense these energies and I will refuse to eat in such places but in circumstances where people might get offended if I refuse point blank, I make sure that I don’t come back to the same restaurant for a very long time.
I like to research where I eat. I look at the produce they use, how it delivered, how the management treat the kitchen staff including the waiters and when I am satisfied that the energy flowing within an establishment is one with which I revere, Then I will eat there. Food with good energy feeds your spirit as well as hunger. You feel elated, not in the egotistical sense but in a way that spreads to every corner of your being.
By saying a blessing or prayer quietly to yourself before eating the food in front of you you are greatly restoring good energy within the food you eat. The energy of the spirits within the food will understand what you desire of it and will not let you down. The reason for this is that you could be helping a spirit on its journey onward into eternity by giving it direction. In this way the energy will not remain stuck and confused within you. May everything you eat feed your body soul and spirit and give your life quality and purpose.
I’m a qualified chef, life coach and psychotherapist. In the following article I would like to share with you a whole new approach to loosing weight safely. This is a system that I have formulated after years of working with clients who have problems maintaining a diet regimen.
This system does not require you to count calories, drink weird powder blends or feel hungry. Instead, what I advise my clients to do requires a change in their whole approach to food and drink but at the same time still keeps eating a pleasurable experience without causing any inbalences in the diet.
There are actually more than ten points in the system. What I require you to do is to choose at least ten points that you know that you can adopt into your daily routine. However the first point in the list is the only obligatory point in the system and it acts as the basis for all the others.
Read the list carefully and take time to understand the implications of all the different points. You can change points if you like. Your first choice may not be the ideal choice for you. Have fun with the system and look at it as a form of rehabilitation rather than a way of punishing yourself for how you look and feel.
Here is the list of points.
1) (obligatory). Drink one cup of water first thing in the morning and thereafter one cup of water before each meal, one cup of water during the meal and one cup of water after the meal. In addition drink one cup of water two hours before going to bed.
2) Always eat at a set table. Never eat standing up or laying down. Never eat in front of the TV, the movie screen or the theatre.
3) Cook your own food. Do not buy pre cooked dinners because they contain substances that are put there to make you feel hungrier.
4) Eat three pieces of fruit from the following list every day: apples, pears, oranges, grapefruits.
5) Eat four or five pieces of raw vegetables from the following list: carrots, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, onion, bell peppers.
6) Eat at least three portions of cooked vegetables per day.
7) Eat three portions of grilled chicken or turkey breast per week.
Eat three portions of fish per week. (Instead of meat)
9) Eat in restaurants only once per week.
10) Eat Bread only with one meal of the day and eat no more than three slices. Eat whole grain bread. Whit bread is addictive because it gives the body no nutrients other than empty calories therefore causing the body to ask to be fed again. Whole grain bread constituted eighty percent of a healthy diet before the technology of making white flour was invented.
11) Do not eat anything that has a filling, especially cheese fillings. These are usually processed cheese and not good for you.
12) Do Not eat anything that is salted. (This relates to salted snacks)
13) Eat no more than one portion of desert per day, prefer fruit to desert.
14) Eat ice cream only once per week.
15) Do not eat fried food unless it has been fried with hot air. Poached eggs are healthier.
16) Prefer to eat food without heavy sauces.
17) Proportion you carbohydrate intake so that it makes up no more than one third of your total food intake.
18) Do Not drink any sweet sodas, no cola.
19) limit yourself to one alcoholic drink per day.
20) Cut out chocolate and sweets.
If there are any of the above points that are already incorporated in to your lifestyle then don’t choose these points to be among the ten, pick another choice instead.
See if you can adhere to ten points for ten weeks. If you manage this you are then ready for the advanced stage which includes adding the other ten points, For life.
Only when you pay attention to every detail concerning the hygienic state in around your business can you be reasonably assured that you are protecting your customers against disease which is transmitted by rodents and other pests.
At the bottom of this article you will find a full video presentation in six parts on the subject of food hygiene.
Most of us spend a great deal of attention to cases of food poisoning outside the home. Stories of food poisoning incidents hit the news and cause a great deal of anxiety and public interest. Someone once told me that food scares in the media are a bit like stories of air crashes. Although tragic and dramatic they do not amount to many deaths compared to road accidents. The same is true for incidences of food poisoning. Most instances of food poisoning do occur in the home environment.
However it is only natural to have this concern about food hygiene from without the home because the food we buy and bring into the home environment comes from without. It is for precisely this reason that we are naturally tuned into collecting as much information as possible about where the best sources of food are and which places to avoid.
Even if we do manage to locate excellent food sources there will always be some bacteria present on it. We can never get completely away from this fact. Bacteria are everywhere. What we are looking for is sources that have not been exposed to unnecessary sources of contamination. Taking this fact into to account, the reason for promptly storing our food becomes clear. We need to keep it as fresh as possible.
Restaurants are involved solely in the preparation of food and if they work along strict hygienic guidelines the risk of food contamination is minimal. On the other hand, the home kitchen serves many functions. If only I had a dollar for the number of times I saw muddy football boots in the kitchen sink. The multi functionality of the home kitchen allows for many different possibilities for the cross contamination of food.
The kitchen is the place where any number of family mishaps are solved and family members come to the kitchen to clean themselves when really they should be using the bathroom. Kids may have been playing with their pet rabbits or the dog and the man of the house may have been unblocking a drain. In both of these instances the family members in question may go to take a drink from the fridge without properly washing and changing clothes. We all know this happens. Any kind of contaminant could spill onto food,
Another reason for food poisoning in the home is the direct and indirect interaction between the kitchen area and animal.s By animals I mean cats, dogs, mice, rats, birds, cockroaches, ants, flies, spiders, moths and in some countries maybe lizards and geckos. All animal species carry a huge variety of bacteria on their skin and in the feces and urine. Animals should not be allowed to jump onto kitchen work surfaces or eat from human utensils. If you are working with food avoid touching animals. Food should be kept in air tight food containers to stop insects and rodents from getting at it and work surfaces must be kept spotlessly clean at all times and sterilized with an anti bacterial spray such as Lysol spray.
Not everybody cleans their fruit and vegetables before storing them but I do like to wash it with a fruit and vegetable detergent. The soil upon your produce may come from many different areas of the world and it is better to clean it off than to have exotic strains of bacteria infecting your whole fridge. The special detergents for fruit and vegetables should also remove any insecticide residue from your fruit.
A major source of food poisoning in the home is failure to clean the fridge regularly and to check the freshness of the produce within it. Your fridge is a humid environment in which air circulates. This means that bacteria and molds can spread throughout your fridge in aerosol and contaminate many different items in a very short space of time. Always check your stock for food spoilage.
Preparing barbecue food is another common source of food poisoning in the home. People often leave food in containers in hot conditions while they are cooking. This gives bacteria an opportunity to grow. Grilling raw chicken takes a very long time until it is cooked through to the bone and bacteria have ample time to proliferate throughout the food. It is always best to precook chicken drumsticks, wings and chunks and to grill them just for the added taste of the grill. Thick hot dogs and burgers are also problematic for grilling on the barbecue. It takes a very long time for the heat to penetrate throughout and more often than not people eat only partially cooked food.
Thawing meat and fish. It is absolutely amazing when one learns just how few people understand how to thaw food. In the age when we constantly want things to be ready in a flash it seems time wasting to wait a few hours for meat to thaw. The solution is generally the microwave or to thaw in hot water. Both of this areas create hot spots on the surface of the meat where bacteria can develop. Meat should be defrosted in cold water but my personal advice is to plan three days ahead and defrost meat in your fridge at four degrees Celsius and in a closed container.
Ground meat and eggs are particularly sensitive items in the home kitchen. Ground meat is animal muscle whose surface area has been greatly increased. This increase of surface area is excellent for bacterial development. if other contaminants such as unclean spices or herbs are added to it as well as raw eggs, bacteria will be provided with the ideal environment. Raw egg is another perfect culture medium for bacteria. Ground meat should not be left out for long periods. It should be mixed with the other ingredients as quickly as possible and either cooked or re refrigerated until cooking. Personally I try not to exceed twenty minutes outside of refrigerated conditions.
Failure to follow manufacturers instructions is also an area in which much food poisoning in the home. Many pre made products are not suitable for baking, especially meat products which have been breaded but not pre fried. Always read manufacturers instructions if you are using a product for the first time. Adhere to warnings stated on packaging.
The last area of concern that I want to talk about is the cleaning of eating and cooking utensils and equipment. Wash everything in very hot water and washing up liquid. Clean all grease from ovens and ranges promptly. Store equipment in clean cupboards and replace dish cloths and dish towels after each task. Use all kitchen equipment only for the function that it was intended. Personal hygiene is the function of the bathroom not the kitchen. Train your family on how to use the kitchen correctly and the risks of food poisoning in the home will be greatly reduced.
Eat three portions of fish per week. (Instead of meat)
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