Woman's Day, July 1st, 2006
“Americans have one of the world’s safest food supplies, and it’s constantly getting safer,” says Phil Crandall, Ph.D., food scientist at the University of Arkansas. A report last spring by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that food-borne illnesses are indeed declining, although experts can’t say whether better practices by food producers or consumers deserve the most credit. Yet roughly 76 million Americans develop some variety of food-based sickness each year, so you should still take precautions.
“Responsibility for food safety needs to be a priority from the farm to the fork,” says Barbara Kowalcyk, board of directors president of the advocacy group Safe Tables Our Priority in Burlington, Vermont. Find out which foods get a green light and which require caution.
The meat market: “E. Coli Risk Leads to Beef Recall” Florida Times-Union, 8/24/05
Set your worry meter to: yellow
You may be fretting about mad cow disease unnecessarily, says John A. Fox, Ph.D., professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, who says your risk of contracting the illness is “comparable to being struck by an asteroid.” Instead, bacteria in ground beef is what you should focus on. “Ground beef is at higher risk of contaminants than steak because any bacteria on the surface spread throughout the meat during grinding,” Dr. Fox explains.
Set a safer table
Laws forcing companies to boost safety precautions have led to fewer problems. Still, it’s crucial to handle raw beef with care. Thoroughly wash hands, knives and cutting boards immediately after they touch meat. When cooking, insert an instant-read dial thermometer at least two inches into the side of the patty until it reads 160ºF. “Color isn’t a reliable indicator,” says Dr. Fox. He also recommends buying ground beef that has been irradiated, which he likens to pasteurizing milk.
A harvest of trouble: “Salmonella investigation now focuses on tomatoes” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/21/04
Set your worry meter to: Green
You might not expect to get sick from produce, but more than 500 people did in 2004 when the tomatoes they bought turned out to be tainted with salmonella. The episode was unfortunate, but experts say it was rare.
Produce, especially that grown in foreign countries (which is most of what we eat these days), has gotten a bum rap, says Dr. Crandall. “American supermarkets demand that all food suppliers conform to the FDA’s rigorous ‘Good Agricultural Practices,’” he says. In 2003 Dr. Crandall’s lab tested imported bananas bought from numerous area grocery stores and found that not a single one contained illness-causing bacteria.
Recent years have seen headlines about E. coli in prepackaged salads, salmonella-tainted almonds, and raspberries with parasites. But when you consider that millions of Americans eat several pieces of fruit and vegetables every day, the likelihood of contracting food-borne disease from produce is low, says Carl Winter, Ph.D., a food toxicologist at the University of California, Davis.
Set a safer table
Rinse all fruits and vegetables with water (soap and produce sprays aren’t necessary), including the outside of melons and grapefruits to prevent any bacteria on the skin from being dragged inside during slicing. Avoid cross-contamination in the supermarket by sliding raw meat and poultry into a plastic produce bag before putting them in your cart. Dr. Winter doesn’t believe it’s necessary to buy organic produce, even strawberries, spinach or other foods said to have higher levels of pesticides, although he touts other benefits of organic farming, such as aiding the environment.
A good catch: “Tests find High Mercury Levels in fish” Associated Press, 9/16/05
Set your worry meter to: red
Women who are pregnant or trying to conceive should know this list by heart: shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish—all fish to avoid because they have high mercury levels. You should also limit canned albacore tuna (which has more mercury than canned light) to one 6-ounce serving a week, and total consumption of seafood to no more than 12 ounces (or four palm-size fillets) weekly.
Mercury gets into seafood when it’s emitted from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources and winds up in the water. In 2000 and 2001, San Francisco internist Jane Hightower, M.D., found that 89 percent of her fish-loving patients had high blood mercury levels.
But don’t avoid seafood entirely. “Fish is high in protein, low in fat, and some species, such as salmon, are full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids,” says David Green, Ph.D., director of the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology at North Carolina State University.
Set a safer table
Choose low-mercury species such as shrimp, catfish and salmon. Wild and canned salmon have fewer PCBs (another contaminant) than farmed salmon. And change up your choices. “Variety is still the best way to reduce your risk,” says J. Lynne Brown, Ph.D., R.D., associate professor of food science at Penn State University.
Fowl play: “FDA Pulls Poultry Drug, Cites Health Risk” USA Today, 7/29/05
Set your worry meter to: yellow
Doctors have been criticized for overprescribing antibiotics, but many poultry growers also give these drugs to their flocks to keep the birds healthy, says John Marcy, Ph.D., of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas. Experts worry that the overuse of these drugs may be contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
A report by the government’s General Accounting Office stated that antibiotic-resistant bacteria in chickens can indeed transfer that resistance to humans, although it concluded that “the extent of potential harm to human health is uncertain.” Last summer, the FDA banned one drug from use in fowl because it caused the bacteria campylobacter, a common source of food-borne illness, to become antibiotic-resistant.
Set a safer table
Because antibiotics aren’t fed to chickens in the weeks before slaughter, the drug isn’t in the poultry that you eat, Dr. Marcy says. Yet the fact that these drugs help create antibiotic-resistant superbugs remains an issue. Stay safer by buying organic chicken or chicken from brands that don’t use antibiotics. Concerned consumers should also urge the government to ban frivolous but dangerous agricultural uses of antibiotics, recommends The Center for Science in the Public Interest (cspinet.org). This consumer advocacy group supports a ban on the use of antibiotics to promote growth in poultry and other livestock.
Is your desktop a disaster area? Eating at your desk might save time, but it could cost you sick days if you aren’t careful. Shockingly, office desktops typically have 400 times more bacteria than toilet seats, according to research by Charles Gerba, Ph.D., professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. Philadelphia dietitian Althea Zanecosky shares her tips to help keep your lunch break germ-free. ● Always wash your hands before and after lunch, and swipe your desk with a disinfecting wipe. ● Refrigerate a bagged lunch within two hours of preparation. If you can’t, store it with a cold pack. ● Put leftovers in the fridge promptly, and eat or discard them within three to five days, or within three days for fish. ● Find out how long that spread has been sitting on the conference table. If it’s more than two hours, pass (exceptions: breads, fruits, veggies, hard cheeses and cooked foods on Sterno that remain warm).
Why we need better food protection
Many food watchdog groups say breakdowns in food safety measures occur because too many bureaucrats are in the kitchen. A frozen cheese pizza, for example, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. But once that pizza is topped with pepperoni, it falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Consumer health groups say we’d be better protected if one agency had complete control, with uniform standards and accountability. Several groups support the Safe Food Act, which would put all food safety, inspection and labeling into one superagency. Learn more about it at www.house.gov/delauro/safe_food_act_109.html.
