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Susan M. Morgan, CFCS
County Extension Agent
Family and Consumer Education
Bolivia, NC 28422
September 7, 2000

You have a headache. You're vomiting. You have diarrhea, and feel nauseated. Your doctor says it's likely you have a food-borne illness. You start retracing in your mind all the places you've eaten recently. There was the new restaurant in town. There was the takeout food from the deli. You ate at the food stand at the football gave last night--all possibilities. And you ate at home, but it couldn't possibly be food from your home kitchen that made you sick, or could it?

It's difficult to document the number of food-borne illnesses related to home food safety practices. A food-related illness could occur any time from about a half hour to a couple of weeks or more after exposure to the contaminated food. Unless a large number of people are affected, many incidences of food-borne illness go unreported and are often "classified" as a virus.

In 1999, Audits International, an independent firm that specializes in food safety and food quality evaluations for restaurants, food service facilities and supermarkets, surveyed 121 households in 82 North American cities. The most frequently sited food safety violations in the home included: cross-contamination; failure to wash hands; and improper handling of leftovers.

September is National Food Safety Education Month. This year's campaign emphasizes how to handle and prepare food properly at home, whether cooking from scratch or serving take-out meals and restaurant leftovers. Be Smart. Keep Foods Apart -- Don't Cross-Contaminate is this year's theme. Cross-contamination is the transfer of harmful bacteria to food from other foods, cutting boards, utensils, and/or hands. An example of cross-contamination is cutting raw meat, poultry, or fish on a cutting board and then slicing salad vegetables on the same cutting board without washing and sanitizing the cutting board between uses. Not in your home, you say?

According to a 1998 FDA/USDA consumer food survey:

Twenty-one percent of cooks do not wash their cutting boards after cutting raw meat; One quarter of cooks do not wash their hands after handling raw meat and fish; two-thirds do not wash their hands after handling raw eggs; and Sixty-one percent of people who use a cloth or sponge to wipe kitchen counters change them less than seven times per week.

Food safety experts advise using paper towels to wipe kitchen surfaces. If cloths or sponges are used, wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.

Here are some helpful tips for preventing cross-contamination:

Always wash hands with hot, soapy water after handling raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or fresh fruits and vegetables; And washing hands is not just a "splash and dash" thing. You should use warm water and rinse thoroughly for at least 20 seconds. That's the length of time it take to sing happy birthday or the complete alphabet to yourself.

Wash cutting boards, dishes, and utensils with hot, soapy water after they come in contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or fresh fruits and vegetables; To sanitize, rinse them with hot water and a chlorine bleach solution. A second way to lessen possible cross contamination is to use one cutting board for raw meats, fish, and poultry and a different one for raw vegetables. But, don't skip the sanitizing step!

Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, as well as eggs -- and the juices from raw foods -- away from other foods in your shopping cart, on kitchen counters, and in your refrigerator;

Never place cooked food back on the same plate or cutting board that previously held raw food without washing the plate or cutting board between uses; Watch yourself the next time you're grilling--this happens most often when grilling outside where it's a little more inconvenient to change plates.

Don't use sauce that was used to marinate raw meat, poultry, or seafood on cooked food unless you boil the sauce first for at least 10 minutes.

So you think your kitchen is a safe place to eat?> Here's a short quiz to test your food safety savvy. Answer YES or NO to the following questions, then check the correct answers that follow.

1. Is it safe to leave foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy foods at room temperature for longer than two hours?
2. To prevent cross-contamination, should you wash cutting boards with hot soapy water followed by hot rinse water between cutting raw meat, poultry or seafood and cutting other foods?
3. Should you thaw meat, poultry and seafood on the kitchen counter?
4. Should you divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers for quick cooling in the refrigerator?
5. Can you always tell by the color of cooked meat and poultry whether it's safe to eat?
6. Does handwashing help prevent food-borne illness?

Answers To Food Safety Questions:

1. NO. Protein foods -- such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy foods -- should not be at room temperature for more than TWO hours. Just ONE bacterium can grow to over 2 million bacteria in seven hours!
2. YES. After cutting meat, poultry or seafood, wash the cutting board with hot soapy water followed by hot rinse water before cutting other foods. Or, buy several cutting boards to use for different foods and then wash them all in the dishwasher and dry on heat-dry rather than air-dry.
3. NO. Do not thaw meat, poultry or seafood on the kitchen counter. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator. Place package on a plate on a lower refrigerator shelf. This stops any juices from dripping on other foods and spreading bacteria. If you thaw food in the microwave, cook it right away. Unlike food thawed in a refrigerator, microwave-thawed foods reach temperatures that encourage bacterial growth.
4. YES. Put leftovers in shallow pans so they cool faster. Limit depth of food to about TWO inches, especially for thicker foods such as stews, hot puddings and layers of meat slices. For greatest safety and quality, eat leftovers in one or two days. Freeze foods for longer storage. Put leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer promptly after eating. If food is left at room temperature for over TWO hours, bacteria can grow to harmful levels and the food may no longer be safe. Loosely cover leftovers to allow heat to escape and to protect from accidental contamination during cooling. If you stir refrigerated food to help it cool, use a clean spoon each time. Cover tightly when cooled. Your refrigerator should be set at no higher than 40øF (actually, it's better to set it at 380F and your freezer no higher than 0øF.
5. NO. Using a food thermometer helps assure meat and poultry are cooked long enough to be safe and helps avoid overcooking that can cause dryness and loss of flavor.
6. YES. Handwashing is considered the single most effective way to help prevent the spread of diseases and can definitely help protect against food-borne illness. Wash your hands with warm soapy water for about 20 seconds before and after handling food and after playing with pets, using the bathroom and changing diapers.

Remember that food safety begins with you. Becoming sick from food doesn't always mean that you ate contaminated food at a restaurant, it could have easily been prepared in your own kitchen.

Susan Morgan is Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Education for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Brunswick County. For more information or questions, contact Susan at 253-2610 or P. O. Box 109, Bolivia, NC 28422.

The information presented is for educational purposes only. References to trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service is implied.

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Date Created 9/11/2000
Last Revised 9/11/2000