People clutch their stomachs and complain they've picked up a bug. Too often, though, they're suffering a common malady that could be called "sloppy chef syndrome."
Improper food preparation, refrigeration and storage are responsible for many a miserable day and sometimes even serious illness.
We joke that we can't program our own VCRs. But we don't even think about how to use a refrigerator. You open the door and put items in or take them out. Unfortunately, most of us complete that seemingly simple task in ways that are potentially dangerous.
The American Dietetic Association and ConAgra Food have joined forces to launch an informational campaign, "Home Food Safety . . . It's in Your Hands," to teach Americans how to prevent foodborne illness by putting into practice a few simple safety precautions.
Two things are key to food safety: Washing your hands regularly and using your refrigerator properly, according to Beverly Webber, spokeswoman for the Utah Dietetic Association and director of the University of Utah's Nutrition Clinic. Eliminate the foodborne illnesses caused by improper refrigeration and the process of hand-carrying germs from one food item or utensil to another, and you've very nearly defeated the problem.
"In food safety, the No. 1 issue is washing hands," Webber said. "If you wash often — and it's the most important thing you can do — you would reduce the spread of disease and foodborne illness."
"Often" means every time you cough, sneeze, pet an animal, handle food or go to the bathroom and then wash again periodically in between those things. "Wash" means hot, soapy water. And drying your hands on a clean paper towel, not wiping your hands over and over on the same hand towel with which you shined the knife you used to cut the vegetables and wiped up that little spill, she said.
Cutting boards are an important part of the equation. Each kitchen should have two cutting boards, one for meats and the other for everything else. "Otherwise, you're passing E. coli and other bacteria to other raw foods when you use the same cutting board over and over," she said. The same goes for utensils. You don't slice raw chicken, then use the knife to cut radishes.
In fact, if salmonella germs could be dyed bright red and the average cook tracked from task to task — touching the fridge door, getting a washcloth, answering the phone, preparing raw meat, reusing the hand towel — the average kitchen would look like someone played paint ball in it, with red smears everywhere.
Webber's pet peeve is people who taste test out of the pan, using the spoon that they're also stirring with.
"Put the spoon in your mouth, then put it back in the pan.
Blechhh."
The importance of refrigeration can't be overemphasized. Most people don't know that a refrigerator's temperature should be below 40 degrees to keep food out of the "danger zone" where bacteria flourishes. Besides that, food loses its nutrients faster if the temperature is higher.
But when the association and ConAgra Foods did a survey, they found 60 percent of respondents didn't know that the fridge should be set below 40 degrees. And more than two-thirds of those surveyed didn't have a refrigerator thermometer to monitor safe storage temperature of refrigerated foods anyway.
Consumers are generally uninformed about safe ways to defrost frozen foods, too. If you usually take the meat from the freezer to the counter to defrost, stop it, Webber said. Food should be thawed in the fridge, under COLD running water or in the microwave just before it's going to be cooked. On the counter, bacteria multiply rapidly.
Warm weather brings the joy of barbecues and picnics and the sorrows of salmonella. Perishable leftovers need to be put in the refrigerator after no more than two hours. And when it's really hot outside, the time is halved. Don't leave cooked chicken or potato salad on the table for long-term grazing. It's not safe.
Of special concern are mayonnaise-based foods like salads or anything with cooked eggs in it, Webber said. They can't take room temperatures and remain safe for long.
If cold is important, so's hot. Meats need to be cooked to their recommended temperature, and everyone should have a meat thermometer.
Meat also needs to be stored separately in the refrigerator from raw foods like vegetables. It's very important that spilled meat juices don't get on other foods — and that such spills are wiped up promptly .
Most fruits and vegetables should be washed before they're eaten. Rinsing it in cold water is generally adequate, according to Webber, unless you've spilled meat juice on it. Unwashed fruits and vegetables tend to stay fresh in the fridge longer, but if people are going to grab them and eat them directly, wash them before you refrigerate them to make sure no one gets sick.
If they are somehow contaminated, as with spilled meat juice, the job requires soap and warmer water. Or peeling. Done, of course, with a clean knife.
A surprising number of people never think about cleaning the outside of fruits like cantaloupes because the skin isn't eaten. But every time a cut is made in the fruit, anything on the surface is forcibly dragged into the interior. Scrub the skins.
Webber remembers the time she and her dad jumped off the tractor at his ranch to eat a cantaloupe they'd just plucked out of the ground. Nothing ever tasted better. And the gastrointestinal distress that followed was memorable, too.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com