Health Secrets	UPDATED: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
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After the spinach scare

Posted on Saturday, January 27, 2007

How to avoid foodborne illnesses

By Lisa Rademakers
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

“Older people are at a higher risk for getting sick from E. coli,” says Patricia Kendall, Ph.D., R.D., extension specialist and professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State. “The consequences can be higher for a person with a compromised immune system due to aging or complicating diseases they might have like diabetes, cancer, or liver or kidney disease,” she says.

Last year, raw spinach contaminated with E. coli sickened people in 26 different states, and eventually killed three people—two older women and one child.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, foodborne diseases like E. coli cause an estimated 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year. The strain of E.coli on spinach was E. coli O157: H7, one of hundreds of different strains of the bacteria. Originating in the intestines of cows and other animals, E. coli travels through farms, meat processing plants, and fresh produce fields to enter the food supply. Although most strains are harmless, E. coli O157:H7 can produce toxins that damage the lining of consumers’ intestines.

Don’t eat that
Food safety recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture can help to avoid foodborne illness (see sidebar), but “for older people with complicating diseases, it’s also important to avoid certain foods,” says Kendall.

Raw fish, raw seafood, and raw poultry are all on the do-not-eat list. “You can’t assume they will be safe because of their high potential for pathogen (disease- causing agent) contamination,” says Kendall. Campylobacter, a pathogen from the intestines of birds, remains in undercooked poultry and sickens more than 1 million people a year.

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Kendall recommends older people also avoid food and drinks that have not been pasteurized (heated to destroy harmful organisms). Pass up the raw milk, raw milk cheeses, and unpasteurized juices, “There is a lot of potential for pathogens in foods like these,” says Kendall.

Also, steer clear from old leftovers. “An opened food that has been refrigerated for more than three to five days and is not going to be reheated before eating, like lunchmeats or leftovers, could be a potentially hazardous food,” says Kendall. The Center for Science in the Public Interest recommends using refrigerated leftovers within four days, otherwise freeze them.

Should you eat spinach now?
Consumers who handle raw spinach run the risk of cross-contaminating other foods, so you should wash your hands thoroughly with hot, soapy water, and wash utensils and surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after handling spinach.

Cooking the spinach to 160°F for 15 seconds will kill any E. coli contamination, but it is difficult to take the temperature of a spinach leaf to ensure it has heated to 160°F. Rather than handle raw spinach, you could buy frozen packaged spinach and cook it as directed.

“At this time, we are staying away from fresh leaf spinach due to recent health issues,” says Wayne Knowles, corporate executive chef at Erickson Communities. “We haven’t gone back to the fresh bagged spinach, but we are using frozen spinach,” says Knowles.

Sprouts should also be cooked thoroughly, or not eaten at all. “There have been multiple E. coli and salmonella outbreaks in raw sprouts,” says Kendall. Salmonella comes from the intestines of birds, reptiles, and other animals, and sickens about 40,000 people a year.

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Pick up these food safety habits
Good food safety habits cut your chances of getting sick from food.

Clean: Wash hands, utensils, and cutting boards with hot, soapy water before and after contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs.

Separate: Keep raw meat and poultry apart from foods that won’t be cooked.

Cook: Use a food thermometer – you can’t tell food is cooked safely by how it looks.

Chill: Chill leftovers and takeout foods within two hours and keep the fridge at 40°F or below.

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