It is estimated that 1 in 6 Americans contract a foodborne illness every year. In most cases, these illnesses only amount to a day or two of discomfort, but they can be much more serious (and even fatal) in rare cases.
Food poisoning is most often avoidable if you follow the right food safety practices. To help raise awareness about these practices, the month of September has been declared National Food Safety Education Month. In this article, we’ll recognize National Food Safety Education Month by taking a look at everything you need to know about food safety.
Types of Foodborne Illnesses
“Food poisoning” is the catch-all name applied to foodborne illnesses, but there are actually several different types of illnesses that can be caused by eating contaminated food. The six most common types of foodborne illnesses include:
- Norovirus: The most common type of foodborne illness, norovirus causes stomach flu-like symptoms and is responsible for 5.4 million cases of food positioning in the US each year.
- Salmonella: Salmonella is most commonly contracted from consuming undercooked poultry and causes about 1.2 million illnesses and 450 deaths in the US each year.
- Clostridium perfringens: Clostridium perfringens is a bacteria that causes diarrhea and abdominal cramps and is responsible for 1 million cases of food poisoning in the US each year.
- Campylobacter: Campylobacter causes 1.3 million illnesses in the US each year and can sometimes lead to a severe neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
- E. coli: E. coli is a well-known foodborne illness, but only causes 176,000 cases in the US each year.
- Listeria: Listeria only causes 1,600 cases of illness in the US each year but is the most lethal foodborne illness and is responsible for 250 deaths in the US each year.
Food Safety Tips for Preventing Foodborne Illness
With symptoms ranging from a very unpleasant experience to severe disorders and death, none of the illnesses mentioned above are ones you want to encounter. Thankfully, they can all be prevented with proper food safety, including the following food safety tips:
Cook Meats to a Safe Temperature
The most common cause of food poisoning is consuming undercooked meats. By cooking meat to its recommended temperature, you can kill off any pathogens that might be present. Temperature recommendations vary from meat to meat. Steaks and other beef products can generally be safely consumed quite rare as long as the outside of the cut that has been exposed to contamination is thoroughly cooked (though ground beef must be treated more carefully since all of the meat has been exposed to contamination). Poultry products must be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 ºF to be safe while pork must be cooked to 145 ºF. The best way to ensure that you are cooking your meats to a safe temperature is to use a meat thermometer.
Avoid Cross Contamination
Any utensil or dish that touches raw meat should be thoroughly washed before it is used to prepare other food. It’s also important to wash your hands after handling raw meat and to clean and disinfect any surfaces in your kitchen that raw meat touches. Raw meat should be kept separate from other food items in both your shopping cart and refrigerator. Any marinade that is used on raw meat should be boiled before it is reused.
Follow the Expiration Date for Meat
The “use by” date that is printed on the package of most food products isn’t always a hard rule. Eating a box of crackers that is past its expiration date, for example, poses only the risk of a stale taste. For meat products, though, it’s better safe than sorry. Even though many meats will remain safe to consume for some time beyond their expiration date so long as they are properly cooked, you’ll want to play it safe unless the product is just a day or two beyond its expiration date and you carefully check it for signs of spoilage.
Follow Proper Practices for Chilling and Thawing Meat
The two-hour rule states that meat should not be left unrefrigerated or unfrozen for longer than two hours. In warmer temperatures such as the trunk of your car on a hot summer day, you may want to be even more careful. Meat must also be thawed properly to ensure food safety. While it may be tempting to speed up the thawing of meat using methods such as running it under hot water, exposing raw meat to low levels of heat causes pathogens to multiply exponentially faster. Even thawing meat at room temperature is a risk. Instead, only thaw meat in the refrigerator, in cold water, or using a microwave (which does create heat but thaws food quickly enough that pathogens don’t have time to multiply).
Following these food safety tips will eliminate the vast majority of food poisoning cases, ensuring that your delicious meal doesn’t come back to haunt you. This Food Safety Awareness Month, be sure to take a little extra precaution in the kitchen to avoid becoming one of the millions of Americans each year that learn the hard way just how important food safety really is.
