Dangerous Home Cooking

Food poisoning is only a danger at a restaurant that's gotten a shipment of bad meat, right? Nope -- you can get just as ill right in the comfort of your own home. In fact, the American Dietetic Association says that the number of cases of home food poisoning has increased by 25 percent in the past five years.

Every year, about 33 million Americans are sickened by foodborne illnesses and 9,000 die, says the ADA. Once you get sick, food poisoning is difficult to treat, and can linger and cause serious health complications. Young children, elderly folk, and people with weakened immune systems are in greater danger of becoming seriously ill or dying from foodborne bugs.

What Causes It?
Bacteria can grow fast in foods such as meat, dairy products, and sauces when they're not handled correctly during preparation, or if they're stored improperly. Bacteria can even crop up on unwashed fruit and vegetables and in unpasteurized juices such as apple cider, organic juices, and even some orange juices.

The bacteria produce toxins that cause inflammation of your intestines, typically resulting in abdominal cramping, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, chills, and fever. E. coli bacteria also can cause severe and bloody diarrhea; the rare but deadly botulism toxin causes double vision and muscle collapse that makes it hard to breathe, blink, or swallow, and is fatal if not treated within a few days. Any of the truly unpleasant symptoms associated with foodborne bacteria can hit six hours to even 10 days after ingesting them, and last anywhere from 12 hours to three weeks!

The common culprits of food poisoning are:

* Campylobacter: Can be found in raw or undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, and nonchlorinated water.

* Listeria: Can be found in raw or undercooked meat, poultry, and fish; unpasteurized milk and cheese; soft cheeses; on raw leafy vegetables; sometimes in hot dogs and deli cold cuts.

* Salmonella: Can be found in raw or undercooked meat, poultry, fish, and eggs.

* Botulism: Can be found in improperly home-canned foods, garlic in oil, and food stored in a vacuum-sealed container.

* E. coli: Can be found in contaminated water, unpasteurized milk, raw or rare ground beef, unpasteurized apple juice or cider, on unwashed raw fruits and vegetables; can also be transmitted from person to person.

* Clostridium: Can be found in food left for long periods in steam tables or at room temperature (also known as "the cafeteria germ").

* Shigella: Can be found in food prepared by someone who hasn't washed their hands after going to the bathroom (fecal-oral transmission).

* Staphylococcus aureus: Can be found in food handled by someone with infected cuts, pimples, nasal or throat mucus who transmits it because of poor hygiene.

How to Stay Safe
So how can you protect yourself? Be vigilant about following basic safe food handling practices. Many people know how to handle food properly, but get careless. A survey co-commisioned by the ADA and ConAgra Inc. -- the conglomerate that owns meat-based food brands such as Healthy Choice, Butterball, Armour, Hebrew National, Swift Premium, and Eckrich -- revealed that some folks who rate themselves as good at handling food safely don't wash their hands with soap and water after touching raw meat. So make sure you know what to do, and then follow through. Think of yourself as a scientist working with dangerous live bacteria cultures.

When shopping:

* Buy only pasteurized dairy products.

* Don't buy anything past its "sell by" date

* Don't buy food with damaged packaging.

* Put packaged meat, poultry, or fish into plastic bags before they go into your shopping cart, to keep drippings away from other food.

* Don't buy food that's displayed next to raw meat, poultry, or seafood.

* Don't buy food in stores where employees have questionable hygiene.

At home:

* Put chilled or frozen foods in the fridge or freezer as soon as possible.

* Keep kitchen utensils, appliances, and countertops clean.

* Keep raw meat separated from cooked food.

* Keep your fridge at or below 40 degrees.

* Use a cutting board made of a smooth material such as plastic, and make sure it's free of cracks and crevices.

When cooking:

* Wash fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly with water.

* Marinate and thaw food in the fridge, not on the counter.

* Wash cutting boards and utensils with soap and hot water after they're used to prepare raw meat.

* Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling raw meat, BEFORE touching any kitchen surfaces or other foods.

* Cook red meat until it's gray, and poultry until the juices run clear -- pink meat is especially dangerous in chicken and chopped or ground red meats (which get surface bacteria churned into the mix).

* Use a meat thermometer to ensure complete cooking. Use the USDA's tempature guidelines.

* Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm -- even if you prefer your scrambled, boiled, or fried eggs runny.

* Never serve foods that contain raw or undercooked meat, poultry, or seafood.

* Don't serve raw eggs or foods that contain them. If you must make Caesar salad dressing, mayonnaise, eggnog, or hollandaise sauce, use pasteurized eggs in place of fresh eggs.

* Use raw meat two days after you buy it, or store it in the freezer.

* Use raw eggs within four to five weeks after you buy them.

After cooking:

* Refrigerate uneaten food foods promptly in covered containers at temperatures of 40 degrees or below.

* Use hard-boiled eggs within 1 week after cooking.

* Reheat leftovers thoroughly, to at least 165 degrees.

* If you're not sure how long something's been in your fridge, throw it out.

* If anything starts to smell funny, throw it out.

adapted from article at ivillage.com