Health District Shares Food Safety Tips Ahead of the Holiday Eating Season
Ensure food spreads joy and not germs.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
For many people, the big meal this Thursday is the kick-off to more than a month of festive eating. The Rappahannock Area Health District has tips to share to ensure that this season’s holiday foods spread only joy and not illness.
These tips can be distilled to four main points—clean, separate, cook, and chill.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, food-borne germs—viruses, bacteria, and fungi—sicken one in six Americans, or about 48 million people, annually. These illnesses cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping, and are reason for “a significant number” of emergency room and urgent care visits every year, the local health department wrote in a press release.
Norovirus and Salmonella are the top two culprits causing sickness and hospitalization, according to the CDC, and Salmonella is also the one most responsible for death.
The Virginia Department of Health tracks and reports incidents of gastrointestinal illness at a dashboard updated weekly. Each year in July, the VDH calculates a seasonal gastrointestinal (GI) illness threshold, and when the percent of hospital and urgent care visits for GI illness cross that threshold, it indicates “an increase in norovirus activity and the beginning of norovirus season.”
The threshold for the VDH’s northwest region, which includes the Fredericksburg area, is 11.1%. Last week, 11.3% of emergency room and urgent care visits in the region were for GI illness, which according to the VDH is still “at or below” the threshold.
GI illness visits in the region began crossing the threshold in December of last year and stayed mostly above the threshold until May.
Food-borne illness can be prevented by following these steps:
Clean
Wash hands for at least 20 seconds using soap and warm water before and after preparing or eating food, and after using the bathroom or changing a diaper.
Wash surfaces, including utensils, that come into contact with food before and after preparation.
Rinse produce under running water before eating, cutting, or cooking.
Separate
Raw meat, poultry, seafood, and their juices should be separated from other foods and kept in separate spots in the refrigerator.
Avoid cross contamination by not reusing cutting boards, utensils, or plates that have come into contact with undercooked foods.
Do not rinse poultry—research from USDA found that this often results in spreading germs on sinks and countertops.
Cook
Thaw frozen food safely in the refrigerator, under cold running water, or in
the microwave. Never thaw turkey by leaving it on the counter at room temperature.
Cook food fully—use a thermometer to ensure that food is cooked to safe minimal internal temperature. Cooking times for turkey depend on the weight and whether it is stuffed.
Microwave thoroughly—microwave ovens can cook food unevenly and leave “cold spots” where harmful bacteria can thrive. Follow recommended cooking and standing times.
Avoid raw foods—the CDC advises against eating raw foods, including uncooked meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and flour (including raw cookie dough).
Chill
Set the temperature—keep your refrigerator at 40°F or below and your freezer at 0°F or below.
Use the two-hour rule—refrigerate any leftovers within two hours. This applies to any food that should normally be refrigerated, including pumpkin pie. Discard any food left out at room temperature for more than two hours.
Store leftovers safely—leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for three-to-four days or in the freezer for three-to-four months. Store leftovers in small, shallow containers for quicker cooling.
You can contact the health department if you suspect that more than one person has grown ill from eating a common food, and submit a food illness report at MyMealDetective.com.
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Excellent advice! Thank you Adele and the Fredericksburg Advance for keeping us informed.