All of us can avoid trans fats, cut down on sugar and make sure our chicken is cooked through, but when it comes to making safe and healthy food choices, there's one risk that's much harder to avoid: food contamination.
Even if you tend towards organic and locally grown food, chances are much of what you eat travels through some kind of commercial farm or processing facility on its way to your table. The bottom line is that the safety of your food often lies in someone else's hands. Large-scale contaminations and ensuing recalls are a fairly common occurrence, and the results if you get hit are none too pleasant.
That said, there are plenty of misconceptions out there about food safety, and knowing how to spot them can provide at least somewhat of a shield. Slate's Explainer has a
great column answering some basic questions about food contamination that aren't as obvious as they might seem. A few of their main points:
Don't get worked up if you've consumed a recalled product. Most recalls are, quite reasonably, broader than the actual problem; companies would rather play it safe than risk massive lawsuits. Wait until you actually feel sick, then react.
Vegans aren't necessarily better off. While a good lot of contamination tends to involve eggs, poultry and beef, the feces of contaminated animals can often taint fruits and vegetables grown in proximity.
Water can be worrisome. A decent amount of food contamination in produce can be traced back to the irrigation water used to grow them, making the good and the bad apples even harder to detect.
Wash your vegetables soon after you buy them. The longer bacteria is attached to a piece of produce, the harder it is to get off. Rinsing something thoroughly before putting it in the fridge to sit can go a long way.
Any tips of your own to add?
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Comments (6)
My family always soak vegetables in salty water (regular table salt) for a bit before washing, and we usually do about 3 to 5 fresh water changes (or more it's still grainy at the bottom of the container).
And when I was in Dominican Republic, I would always wash my eggs in soapy water first, dry it, then put it in the fridge.
- One cutting board for meat. Another for vegetables/ uncooked. Never mix the two.
- Wash your cutting board thoroughly with hot water and soap and scrub vigorously. Pockets of bacteria can get stuck in the cut grooves.
- When prepping vegetables (or foods meant to be eaten raw), and raw meat, do not prep them in the same area.
- A major vector for contamination is YOU. Wash your hands before prepping, especially if you just scratched your asscrack or stuck your finger up your nose. You pick up contamination a lot in the kitchen, believe it or not. One major contaminated surface is the refrigerator door handle. Another is the faucet handle.
- Do not use the same knife you use to cut meat as you use to cut foods meant to be eaten raw, unless you thoroughly wash it in between.
- Rotting vegetables rot other vegetables quickly. When your vegetables arrive at home, pick out the ones that show signs of rotting quickly.
- Wash vegetables thoroughly, then wrap in paper towels, and set inside of ziploc bags with holes poked into them. This allows the vegetables to breathe, and the paper towels soak up moisture from the vegetables that would otherwise rot them and release moisture back to the vegetables slowly. This keeps your vegetables crisp and fresh for a very long time.
@chow - i like the idea of wrapping the veggies and fruits in paper towl and placing in a ziploc. I have never heard of this.
My mom always used separate knives and cutting boards for raw meat vs. fruits/veggies. That's all I know though! Think I'll just follow whatever @chow says on this.
What about rags/dishclothes? I mean, if you use the same rag to mop up the counter after preparing raw meat, and then you use it to wipe down the kitchen table...eeeewww.
Cook your food thoroughly to kill bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. I agree you should wash eggs, because they come from a cloaca. That's part of why I like hard boiled eggs. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca
But if you wash the veggies before keeping them in the fridge they tend to go bad faster... :( I always ALWAYS wash an egg before using..