Home » » Clinical Nutrition » Food Safety, it's in Your Hands

Food Safety, it's in Your Hands

© Stephanie Hembree

This September marks the sixth annual National Food Safety Education Month ™ and I felt it appropriate to devote my article to this subject. How many times have you had the stomach flu? The symptoms are headache, vomiting and diarrhea. It is quite possible that you really had food poisoning (or the new term "food-borne illness"). I had my first diagnosed case of food-borne illness in the early eighties, but I still remember it vividly. I feel extremely confident in telling you, I will NEVER eat another raw oyster. In fact, I did not really like the first one. What most people think of as a minor annoyance can prove fatal to certain people in the population. Pregnant women, seniors, children and people with immune disorders are more at risk. One of the goals of the National Food Safety Initiative and the goal of this article is "to educate the public to handle and prepare food properly at home".

The home kitchen can be the cause of food-borne illness. It is difficult to know how many cases actually occur from unsafe food practices in the home. Symptoms can occur from about half an hour to weeks or more after the exposure. The biggest problems associated with the home kitchen are cross-contamination, not washing hands and improper handling of leftovers. In April of 2000, an online survey of 2551 United States households found that while two-thirds of those preparing food were aware of food safety practices, 73 percent had not changed their food handling practices. Is this you?

Part of the problem is inconsistency. Maybe you know to wash your hands after handling raw chicken or hamburger, but the phone rings, so you just grab it without first washing your hands. The bacteria left on the phone multiply. So the next time you use the phone, your hands pick up the bacteria again. If you then cut that apple for your child you have cross-contaminated the apple and it can make your child sick. Your child could get e-coli poisoning without ever eating the hamburger. Washing your hands is the most effective way to prevent the spread of diseases and can help protect you and your family form food-borne illness. You need to wash you hands for a least 20 seconds in warm soapy water after handling food, playing with pets, using the bathroom, or changing diapers. Visit the Home Food Safety-It's in Your hands to get four easy tips on how to prevent illness. While you are there, visit the interactive kitchen and take the food safety quiz.

The copyright of the article Food Safety, it's in Your Hands in Clinical Nutrition is owned by . Permission to republish Food Safety, it's in Your Hands in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.