MEDICAL MINUTE:
Keep Labor Day Picnics Safe from Food Borne Illness
August 28, 2002
Hershey, Pa. – End of summer means Labor Day picnics putting a cap on the season. The Centers for Disease Control estimate 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths result each year from people eating contaminated food. Many cases of food poisoning are mild—but whatever the symptoms no case is ever pleasant. With a little attention to basic food handling you can avoid Labor Day picnic memories tainted by food borne illness.
The biggest threat is meat. Meats should be kept cold – 40 degrees, that is, refrigerator temperature - until cooked. Keeping meats cold prevents the bacteria which is present on all fresh meats from growing. Before your picnic, thaw frozen meat in the refrigerator so it stays cool. If the meat is brought outside, keep it in an ice chest until grilling begins and do not put other foods into the same cooler.
Wash your hands before and after handling raw meat, especially before handling cooked meat and other foods. Marinate meat in the refrigerator. Once you start cooking, do not baste meat with the marinade. It contains bacteria that may contamin
eate your steaks or burgers. Set aside some fresh marinade to use for basting. Any cooked meat that goes uneaten should be put back into the refrigerator within one hour. Otherwise, it may be unsafe to reheat and eat later.Cook meat thoroughly, particularly when cooking hamburger. While a pink or rare steak can be okay, you should avoid pink color in hamburger.
Remember to use clean utensils to handle cooked food and don’t use the same kitchen tool you used to handle raw meat. Eating surfaces should be clean or covered with clean tablecloths or similar material. Clean preparation surfaces with soap often.
Eggs may carry bacteria. Fortunately thorough cooking kills these bacteria. Although healthy peoples’ immune systems can usually eliminate the infection, the illness caused by the bacteria can be pretty unpleasant. Infants, the elderly and those with chronic health problems face a heightened risk. Be sure to cook eggs through and keep them refrigerated before and after cooking. The “rotten egg” test doesn’t always work. Harmful bacteria may not cause odor so don’t depend on smell to identify infected food.
Mayonnaise and milk must stay cold at all times. Warm Eggs and warm mayonnaise should be thrown out—no exceptions. . Keep cold foods in the cooler until you’re ready to use them and return them to the cooler in less than one hour.
Symptoms of food borne illness can begin within hours of eating something bad or take as much as a week from after getting the infection. Most healthy people will recover from bouts with bad food--but infants, the elderly and those with chronic health problems should see their doctors if they develop vomiting or diarrhea within a week of eating potentially contaminated foods. Follow these tips, and hopefully the only time you’ll see your doctor during the Labor Day holiday is at your neighborhood picnic.
More information on food borne illness is available at http://www.hmc.psu.edu/healthinfo/f/foodpoisoning.htm. More details on picnic safety is available from the USDA at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/pubs/facts_barbecue.htm
"Medical Minute" is a service of Penn State Newswire brought to you by John Messmer, M.D., a family physician, medical director of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s University Physician Group practice in Palmyra, and a 1977 graduate of Penn State College of Medicine. In 2002, Messmer was one of only 40 nominees statewide for the Family Physician of the Year Award, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians.