Bring on the sunshine and fragrant blossoms of spring! Most of us love this time of year and want to jump for joy that the bleak winter days are behind us. One way a lot of folks celebrate the spring and summer months is to host a family barbeque and do a little grilling. And what better way to celebrate than with some tasty food and the ones you love?

But wait just a minute. Before you pull out the meat and whip up your favorite salads, it’s best to take a little time to review (or learn) how to ensure a safe barbeque and grilling experience. The fact is that when the weather warms up, there is a greater risk of getting foodborne illness. Bacteria tend to grow when food is in the “danger zone” or 41-135 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, issues with food safety can occur during the grilling months because it involves a lot of meat. And while meat can be delicious, it can be dangerous if it is not handled properly.

So what are some ways you can make sure your next barbeque is both fun and safe? Here are a few tips:

• Do not take your food out of the refrigerator until it is time to prepare it. Never leave perishable foods out for longer than two hours, or one hour if the temperature is hotter than 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside. Leaving items out at room temperature is just asking for trouble, as bacteria will develop and grow rapidly in this kind of environment.
• Once you begin preparing your meat, prepare it completely. It is safe to partially cook meat in the microwave in order to speed up the grilling process. But you must then immediately grill the meat in order to ensure its safety. If you choose to prepare your meat this way, preheat your grill in advance, so it is hot and ready to go when your meat is.
• Check the temperature of your grilled meat to determine that it is completely cooked. Don’t do it by sight. A thermometer works much better (after all, that’s what it was made for.) According to the USDA, ground beef and pork should reach a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Meats such as lamb and steak should reach 145 F. And poultry should reach a minimum internal temperature of 165 F. Undercooking your meat can lead to foodborne illnesses such as E. coli and Salmonella.
• As always, be aware of potential cross-contamination issues! Use one plate or platter for raw meat. Once the meat is grilled and ready, do not put it back on the same plate unless it has been thoroughly washed. Raw juices can easily make you or your family sick. In addition, it is a good idea to serve meat on a separate platter than other food items such as salads or veggies. Keeping these foods from mixing will ensure the safety of those who eat them.

So as you prepare for your next gathering, make sure you are prepared with enough platters, a thermometer, and plenty of room in your refrigerator. As you prepare and keep these tips in mind, you’ll be ready to have a delicious barbeque. And even more important is the fact that it will be safe for the ones you love most.

–Angela Bond

Source: usda.gov

Ah, it’s officially springtime. The temperature is starting to warm up and folks are beginning to spend a bit more time outside. And with spring also comes holidays such as Easter and Passover. If you are hosting a get-together with family and friends, you have likely been doing a bit of planning. You’ve probably been thinking of the food that will be served as well.  And as always, you need to make sure that the food you prepare is safe to eat by preparing it in a responsible, informed manner.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when preparing your holiday dishes.

Ham:

If you are purchasing a fully-cooked ham for your holiday, look for the USDA or State Mark of Inspection on the packaging. This ensures that your ham is prepared correctly and is safe to eat. As soon as you get home, you should put your ham in the refrigerator until the big day arrives. This is to keep the ham from sitting at room temperature, which can lead to dangerous bacterial growth. It is also important to check your fridge, making sure that the temperature is set to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, the ham will stay cool enough to stay safe.

If you choose to reheat your ham before serving it, do so at 325 degrees. You need to make sure the ham reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Always check the internal temperature with a thermometer, rather than just assuming it is done. If your ham was repackaged at a butcher shop, reheat until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Beef Brisket:

Another common dish around this time of year is beef brisket. If that’s on your menu, be sure to plan ahead, giving it plenty of time to thaw in the refrigerator (never on your counter top.) Thawing a whole brisket, which can be 10 pounds, can take quite a few days to thaw. If it’s smaller, it may only take one day. Either way, thaw it in the refrigerator before cooking. When it comes to meat, you need to take special precautions to keep other food safe in the fridge. This means storing the meat on a pan or something that will catch any juices that may spill or leak. In addition, you should store it on the bottom shelf in the fridge, so juices don’t leak onto other foods. If juices do leak, immediately discard the affected foods. Otherwise, you and your family may be at risk for cross-contamination, which can leave you very sick.

When cooking the beef brisket, bake at 325 degrees in the oven. The internal temperature must reach 145 degrees to be safe to consume. If you need to reheat the brisket, do so at 165 degrees. And if you choose to serve it cold, keep it at 40 degrees. Basically, the temperature must stay out of the “danger zone.” The danger zone is a lukewarm temperature that fosters rapid bacteria growth.

Deviled Eggs:

When preparing deviled eggs, make sure to boil them thoroughly. Then, as you prepare the filling, refrigerate the egg whites. During the party, you should keep the eggs on a tray with ice or in a refrigerator. Never leave eggs out at room temperature for more than two hours. Doing so will increase the chance of bacterial growth, once again posing a health threat for those who eat it.

Being responsible for the food you prepare and serve will keep everyone safe and happy. With these dishes, a main factor is the temperature. It is simply not safe to keep food at a lukewarm temperature. Keeping the dish hot or cold enough is essential to a happy, safe holiday for everyone.

–Angela Bond

Source: USDA.gov

While cleaning out the fridge this weekend, I discovered a spot of greenish fur on the hummus. I wondered if I could salvage the hummus or if I was doomed to eat my bell peppers plain. “Toss it,” said my boyfriend. I shrugged and put it back in the fridge, though I doubt it’s still there.  This begs the seemingly obvious question: what do we toss and what can we salvage? The answer isn’t so obvious. How we handle moldy food depends on the particular food and the severity of the mold.

First and foremost, mold is not as isolated as we think—that is, mold is kind of like a plant.  We only see the green/blue sprouting, but we can’t always detect the root system. To be clear, then, if a product is ever covered entirely with mold, throw it out. Please. Compared to listeria and salmonella, mold may not seem like a major player, but some molds can produce mycotoxins, which are poisonous substances that can cause illness. Plus, mold causes spoilage, and eating rotten food is rarely a good idea.

As you clean out your fridge this weekend, keep in mind what foods you can save and which should land in the trashcan.

Foods to salvage:

1. Hard cheeses made with and without mold. While hard cheeses can be saved, I’ve always gotten the execution wrong. Because mold has invisible roots, use a clean knife to cut at least one inch around the moldy area. To avoid cross contamination, keep your knife out of the mold and store the restored cheese in new plastic wrap.
2. Firm fruits and veggies. When I say firm, think bell peppers, carrots, cabbage, etc. Like hard cheeses, hard fruits and veggies are more difficult for mold to penetrate. As with the cheese, cut one inch around and below the mold to be safe.
3. Hard salami and dry-cured country hams. Apparently mold-covered salami and hams are, uh, normal. That doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t have to remove the mold before consuming. Scrub the mold from the surface and enjoy.

Foods to discard:

1. Luncheon meats, bacon, hotdogs. Unlike hard salami, these meats have high moisture content and are more likely to be contaminated beneath the surface.
2. Cooked leftovers. Think meat, poultry, pasta, casseroles, etc. Again—high moisture content means high probability of mold and contamination.
3. Baked goods and bread. It’s easy to lop off the corner of a contaminated slice, but bread and baked goods are porous, which means the roots have reached far beyond what you can spot.
4. Peanut butter, nuts, and legumes. Foods processed without preservatives are at high risk for mold.
5. Soft fruits and vegetables. Think peaches, tomatoes, cantaloupe, etc. Given what we know—that porous, moist foods are at high risk—it makes sense that these foods are particularly risky if left unchecked.
6. Yogurt, sour cream, and, you know, hummus. These are very wet foods and are therefore hotbeds for mold.
7. Soft cheese. Think cottage cheese, shredded, sliced, or crumbled cheese. Moisture? Check. Porous? Check. Toss it.

As always, when in doubt, throw it out. There’s no sense in risking your health or your tummy for an apple or pomegranate yogurt or delicious red pepper hummus.

–Whitney Nelson

Source: www.usda.gov

Technology and innovation are part of what makes the food industry, like other industries, breathe life every day. Sometimes new technology, although good, doesn’t make its way into our lives because we prefer not to use it. For example, I use a kettle grill with natural chunk charcoal. None of that briquette stuff for me. It’s just a matter of preference.  But with some new products that claim to work like magic, we choose not to use them because we are skeptical.  And sometimes, our feelings are right on.

Take Norocloth for example. Advertisers for Norocloth make the claim that their product kills Norovirus—the highly contagious foodborne illness—in only one minute. When I heard about this claim, I was skeptical, so I decided to do a little bit of research. This is what I discovered:

First, I found that researchers didn’t test Norocloth on Norovirus.  They tested it on Feline Callicivirus (FCV). True, FCV is a part of the Norovirus family, but it is a feline virus and does not infect humans. The strain of Norovirus that infects humans cannot even be incubated and so cannot be tested in the same way.

Then, I looked into Norocloth’s one-minute claim. The website PubMed reports that a comparative study was done by researchers and showed that FCV was deactivated in 1.9 minutes of exposure time, 90% more time than that claimed by Norocloth advertisements.

Both facts make Norocloth’s claims seem less than accurate to me.

Although Norocloth advertisements may have been skewed, Norovirous remains a constant threat. Finding ways to reduce exposure to Norovirus at home and in restaurants is extremely important. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a webpage all about preventing Norovirus. This page is loaded with ways to reduce the possibility of cross-contamination.

Throughout today’s modern technology and innovation, a good old fashioned washing with soapy water remains the most effective way to reduce cross-contamination. While hand washing does not kill viruses, it removes them from surfaces. So do like Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis would suggest and wash up, old school.

–Tim Snarr

Ever heard of counterfeit items? Most of us have heard of counterfeit money or counterfeit drugs, but have you ever heard of counterfeit food? Until recently (maybe even until just now), you probably didn’t know it even existed. However, it is a popular trend lately for “businesses” to create foods that are counterfeit, or “rip-offs” of other companies’ products, and sell them to the general public to make millions of dollars.

While there are several areas of concern with this particular practice, perhaps the most frightening is the fact that food safety is certainly none too great a concern for these counterfeiting operations.  Dan Flynn of Food Safety News put it well when he said, “Obviously, anyone willing to rip off valued brands or products to manufacture counterfeit food outside of any regulation of any country does not give a rip about food safety.”

While this issue is on the radars of food safety inspectors these days, it came into the spotlight when tenants of a warehouse noticed all sorts of insects zooming around their heads, which seemed to come from a neighboring unit.  Turns out that area had been used to produce counterfeit ketchup, which would have been sold under the brand of Heinz, even though it had nothing to do with the company whatsoever.  Unsuspecting consumers would have certainly gotten more than they’d bargained for had they picked up a bottle from their local grocery store.

Ketchup is not the only counterfeit food item being found these days. Apparently, phony foods such as candy bars, cheese, fish, and tomato sauce have all been found by Interpol Police as well, which would have made their way to the U.S. in no time had they not been noticed.

The “take-away”? If you run a food establishment such as a restaurant or grocery store, you’d better make sure you know where your supplier is getting your food.  Greg Thomas, a manager of strategic sourcing strategies at BravoSolutions, told Food Safety News “You better know your supplier’s supplier.” He goes on to say “Anybody can fake anything.” Food companies must know their entire supply chain, according to Thomas, in order to avoid issues with counterfeit foods and potential food safety hazards.

–Angela Bond

Sources: FoodSafetyNews.com, Time Magazine