Summer Food Safety

Although the US food supply is one of the safest in the world, an estimated 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur each year, over 300,000 people are hospitalized and 5,000 die from foodborne illness.

For Grill Masters!

• Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.
• Always marinate foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter or outdoors.
• Don't use sauce that was used to marinate raw meat or poultry on cooked food.
• Preheat the coals on your grill for 20 or 30 minutes, or until the coals are lightly coated with ash.
• Use a food thermometer to ensure food is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
• Be sure to keep plenty of clean utensils and platters on hand.
• Print a Grill Master Flyer from Fight Bac !

Handle your fruits and vegetables safely

• Check that your purchased produce is not bruised or damaged.
• Do not buy fresh cut items that are not refrigerated.
• Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water and rub or scrub firm-skin produce.
• Dry fruits and vegetables with a clean cloth towel or paper towel.

  Keep fresh fruits and vegetables separate from raw meat, poultry and seafood.

• Do not use the same cutting board without cleaning with hot water and soap before and after preparing fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Refrigerate all cut, peeled or cooked fresh fruits and vegetables within two hours.
• If in doubt, throw it out!
• Print a Safe Handling Flyer from Fight Bac!

Foods most associated with foodborne illness

Raw meat, poultry, eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw shellfish are the most likely foods to be contaminated.  Foods containing products of more than one animal are particularly hazardous because a pathogen may be present in any one of the animals and contaminate the whole batch.  For example, a single hamburger can contain meat from hundreds of animals.

Fruits and vegetables consumed raw may also be contaminated.  Washing can decrease but not eliminate contamination.  Unpasteurized fruit juice can also be contaminated if there are pathogens in or on the fruit that is used to make it.

What are the most common foodborne diseases?

Campylobacter: a bacterial pathogen that causes fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.  This bacteria can be contracted by eating undercooked chicken, or other food that has been contaminated with raw chicken juices.

Salmonella: a bacterium that causes fever, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps.  This bacteria can spread to humans via a variety of different foods of animal origin.

E. coli 0157:H7: a bacterial pathogen that often causes severe and bloody diarrhea and painful abdominal cramps without much fever.  This is generally contracted by consuming food or water that has been contaminated with microscopic amounts of cow feces.

Calicivirus or Norwalk-like virus: a virus that usually causes more vomiting than diarrhea and resolves within two days.  This is spread primarily from one infected person to another (ie. through kitchen workers). 

*Statistics and information gathered from the CDC and Fight Bac.