Apparently not even the government is exempt from good food safety practices. Last week the cafeteria in the Pennsylvania capitol building had to be shut down after health department inspectors found evidence of a rodent infestation and dish-washing water that was not hot enough. One member of the...
Do you know your summer food safety IQ? The USDHHS website, Foodsafety.gov, has a short quiz to help you find out. Don’t worry, if you’ve completed the StateFoodSafety.com™ Online Food Handler Course, you’ll do just fine. Trust us . . . we got 100%.
As an adult working the food safety industry, it horrifies me to think of how many food items my childhood self dropped on the floor and promptly picked up and put into my mouth. I believed in the “5-Second Rule” like it was the 11th commandment. In my young mind, it made perfect sense that the quicker I retrieved the tasty treat I had dropped, the greater were my chances of it arriving to my mouth “germ free.” As I grew older I amended the rule: “Does not apply if: sticky, gooey, cheesy, or dropped in a public place/floor of car . . . “ That having been said, I admit that anything that qualifies as having a “candy shell” will probably still make it to my mouth after hitting the floor. You would think I’d have a stronger immune system.
The July 2010 edition of National Geographic profiles the recent findings of Paul Dawson, Ph.D. and his graduate students (complete findings published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology). He states, “The five-second-rule is a popular belief that if you drop food on the floor and pick it up within five seconds, it won’t be too germ laden to eat. It’s not true and we’ve proven it, it’s well, bologna.” His study shows that foodborne illnesses like Salmonella can survive on a dry surface for up to four weeks and transfer immediately to food items upon contact. In fact, the research was so conclusive that National Geographic has coined the new phrase “the Zero-Second Rule.” That’s how much time, they state, your food has on the floor before it’s contaminated. Bummer.
We’ve gotten a kick out of the recent article by Delish.com about fast food you can only get outside of the United States. Check out the source below to find out what Domino’s Pizza prepares in France, what McDonald’s is serving in Japan, and what Taco Bell is dishing up in India.
