Book Your Kitchen * Guide United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service Home & Garden Bulletin Number 241 July 1984 m\ Credits Writer — Mary Ann Parmley Design — Deborah Shelton Microbiology — Stanley S. Green Carl S. Custer Contents Historically n Was Harder How Food Spoils Meet the Food Poisoners Staph Salmonella Perfringens Botulism — Home-canned foods A Safe Kitchen Serving Food HOT Storing Food COLD Keeping it SAFE & CLEAN Microwave Cooking 16 — for meat & poultry Special Care for Special Foods 1 7 Hamburger Ham Turkey, Chicken & Duck with Stuffing Hotdogs & Lunch Meat Eggs & Egg-Rich Foods Marinades Mayonnaise Canned Goods 23 Freezer Failure 25 Reporting Food Illness 27 Index to Terms 29 For More Information 31 Meat & Poultry Hotline 32 Test Your Food Safety IQ back cover The SAFE FOOD Book- Historically it was harder. From the earliest times, keeping food safe and wholesome has been quite a task. The Romans brought winter ice down from the Alps, stored it in Your Kitchen Guide caves, and used it the next summer to keep food from sjioilintj and — perhaps equally important to them — cool the wine! There's a recorded reference that sauerkraut, because it is preserved to keep a long time, was used by camp cooks for the workmen on the Great Wall of China. That was about 200 B.C. And in the Middle Ages, a great many smoking, salting, drying, and preserving techniques were perfected that are still in use. The luxurious fruitcake, studded with dried fruits and steeped in rum or brandy, is a present-day descendant. The liquor retards mold, and there are cases of well-tinned and brandied cakes lasting 20 years! Taking care of food today. Now, of course, modern refrigeration and cooking make keeping food safe much simpler. Government inspection and strict standards within the food industry make a decisive difference too. Today Americans enjoy the safest, most wholesome, and most abundant food supply in the world. With respect to meat and poultry — the principal subject of this booklet — some 7,500 Federal inspectors oversee operations in 7,200 packing and processing plants every working day. This is because the law requires that inspectors check and re-check the safety and quality of meat and poultry from the time the animals arrive at the packing plant until the final product is ready for sale. This inspection costs only about $1.50ayear for each of us — a real bargain for such peace of mind! Once you get food home, though, it's up to you to take proper care of it. This is important, because most of the roughly 2 million cases of food poisoning which now occur each year are due to improper handling of food in the home. But you don't have to be a statistic! Prevention is as easy as following the rules in this book. How Food Spoils It's important to know the difference between organisms that cause foods to spoil — to rot or turn bad — and those that can cause food poisoning. A major difference is the temperatures the two types Hke. Most food poisoning bacteria like room temperatures (around 60° to 90°F). They don't grow at low refrigerator temperatures. By "grow" we mean that bacteria divide, multiplying in number But food spoilage organisms — like some bacteria, and yeasts, and molds — can grow at lower temperatures. Even when food is in the refrigerator at temperatures as low as 40° F, these spoilage agents can continue to reproduce. While it's hard to be grateful for them, most food spoilage organisms at least make themselves known. The food looks or smells awful. That's a help — you know to throw it out. ThO Food PoiSOnetS unfortunately, the bacteria that commonly cause food poisoning — with its mild-to-severe intestinal flu-like symptoms — are not nearly so obvious. Most of them can't be seen, smelled, or tasted. The smartest way to handle the food poisoners is to make life so hard they can't multiply enough to cause trouble. But before we talk in detail about prevention, let's meet these troublemakers. Staphylococcus aureus is the scientific name for a small, round organism that is a leading cause of food poisoning. We literally carry staph with us all of the time. It lives in our noses and on our skin. You can find it in concentrated form in boils, pimples, and other skin infections. When transmitted to food, usually by handhng, staph starts gi'ow- ing. At warm temperatures — 100° F is ideal — certain types of staph multiply rapidly and produce a toxin or poison that makes people sick. Staph symptoms? Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea usually appear 2 to 6 hours after eating staph- infected food, and last a day or two. The illness is usually not too serious ^^'^J^^'"'^ ^^^~^^* in healthy people. While cooking kills most bac- teria, the staph toxin is not de- stroyed by ordinaiy cooking. So you must be veiy careful in handling food to prevent staph from growing enough to produce toxin. Don't let prepared foods — par- ticularly starchy foods, cooked and K^ * jfr*"*' cured meats, cheese and meat salads \-*^«- ••s -*» - .^*» — sit out at room temperature over 2 Staph— These tiny, grape-like cells , o,^ 1 • ^^ • ^ 1 vli produce a toxin that is the most corn- hours. Staph IS often associated with ^^^ ^ause of food poisoning in this these foods. country. Safmoneffa — which appears as short, thin rods under the micro- scope — is another major cause of food poisoning in this country. Actually, salmonella is the name used for some 2,000 closely related bacteria that cause more severe flu-like symptoms than staph — diarrhea, vomiting, fever. Infants and young children, the ill, and the elderly may be seriously affected. Symptoms normally appear 12 to 36 hours after eating, and may last 2 to 7 days. Salmonella continually cycles through the environment in the Salmonella — Growing here as a col- ony, these rod-shaped cells are the second major cause of food poisoning. intestinal tracts of people and animals. The bacteria is often found in raw or undercooked foods, such as poultry, eggs, and meat. Unpasteur- ized milk can also contain salmonella. Control is a simple matter, though, because thorough cooking kills salmonella. (See cooking chart, p. 11, for safe cooking temperatures for various meats.) Perfringens, full name Clostridium peyfringens , ranks third as a cause of food poisoning. It, too, is present throughout the environment — in the soil, the intestines of animals and humans, and in sewage. Perfringens differs from staph and salmonella, however, in two ways. First, it's anaerobic, which means it grows only where there is little or no oxygen. Second, it produces two kinds of cells. The normal perfringens cell is the unpleasant one — it produces the poison which makes you sick. But perfringens has a spore cell too, which can survive circumstances that knock out the normal cells. These spores are tricky, because at temperatures between 70° and 120°F, they can become normal cells again, multiplying quickly to disease-causing levels. Perfringens shows its ugly side — usually diarrhea and gas pains — some 8 to 24 hours after consumption. While the syniptoms often end within a day, people with certain medical conditions — ulcer patients, for instance — can be seriously affected. Called the "cafeteria germ" because it often strikes food served in quantity and left for long periods on a steam table or at room tempera- ture, perfringens is often found in cooked beef, turkey, gravy, dressing, stews, and casseroles. Special attention to refrigera- ^ ^ tion, which keeps perfringens from growing, and dividing large portions into small dishes for serving are the • ^ best hedges against perfringens. Di- viding buffet foods into several small dishes exposes more of the food to Perfringens — Between 70 and 120° F, . • ^, i • ^i i • these cells can multiply rapidly. They ^he air, thus reducing the anaerobic are the third major cause of food conditions perfringens likes. poisoning. \ 6 Botulinum bacteria — Right center, the rod-shaped normal cells which pro- duce a rare but deadly poison. Left center, the oblong shapes with clear centers are the "enduring" spores. Botulisntf while very rare, is the deadly food poisoning caused by Closti-idiiO)) botHli)ii(in. Although it needs just the right conditions to develop, botulism is clearly a danger because the spores are always around in soil and water. Like perfringens, the botulinuni bacteria — I'od-shaped under the microscope — grow best in anaerobic (reduced oxygen) conditions. Since the canning process forces air out of food, the botulinum bacteria may find improperly canned foods a good place to grow. Low-acid vegetables such as green beans, corn, beets, and peas, which may have picked up botulinum spores from the soil, are at risk. The risk is greater if they are home- canned, and safe canning procedures have not been followed precisely. Like the perfringens spore, the botulinum spore is tough. While high cooking temperatures will kill the normal botulinum cell, it takes still higher temperatures to kill the spore. That's why canning is done with a pressure canner If the spores are not killed in the canning process, they can become normal cells again and produce the deadly poison. If you eat botulinum-contaminated food, symptoms will develop in 12 to 48 hours. The poison attacks the nervous system, causing double vision, droopy eyelids, trouble sw^allowing, and difficult breathing. With- out treatment, a patient can die of suffocation — the nerves no longer stimulate breathing. There is an antitoxin, which has reduced the number of deaths from botulism, but patients may still suffer nerve damage, and recoveiy is often slow. To avoid botulism, carefully examine any canned food, especially home-canned food, which looks suspicious. Danger signs are milky liquids (that should be clear) surrounding vegetables, cracked jars, loose lids, and swollen cans or lids. Don't use canned goods showing any of these signs. Doi't even taste the)}}.' Even a very small amount of botulinum toxin can be highly dangerous. Throw suspect canned goods away, carefully. You don't want animals, children, or anyone else who might rummage through the trash to get ill. W*ap the cans in plastic, then in heavy paper bags, for deposit in a secure trash can. (See page 27, "Reporting Food Illness," on when to call health authorities in cases of suspected botulism.) -•h bacteria- How food temperature affects their growth Canning temperatures for low-acid vegetables, meat, and . poultry in pressure canner Canning temperatures for fruits, tomatoes, and pickles in water-bath canner 165 Low cooly>»Afl r 18 Turkey, Chicken, and Duck with Stuffing Fixing poultry with stuffing gives food poisoning several opportuni- ties to strike. Bacteria present in raw poultry can get into the stuffing. The stuffing, deep inside the bird, may not heat thoroughly to bacteria- killing temperatures. And refrigerating stuffed poultry requires special attention. Here are some poultry and stuffing safety tips: • Preparing- ahead — If you mix your stuffing a day ahead, pre-mix only the diy ingredients and refrigerate them separately from the uncooked bird. That will keep any bacteria in the raw poultiy from entering the starchy dressing, a food many bacteria can gTow^ well in. Cooking — Stuff the bird just before you're ready to cook it, and stuff loosely. That gives heat from the oven a better chance to cook the stuffing- all the way through. Check the stuffing for doneness with a meat thermometer after you take the bird out of the oven. Leave the thermometer in place for about 5 minutes for an accurate reading. To be fully cooked, the stuffing should reach 165°F and the bird 185°F. • Serving — Place the stuffing in a separate bowl for serving. Keep the poultry meat and stuffing separate for refrigeration, too. • Refrigerating — If you don't want to debone the bird right away after your meal, refrigerate the carcass. You can debone later, dividing the meat into smaller portions for storage. Likewise, if you have large amounts of leftover stuffing, divide it into smaller dishes too. This speeds cooling. ' Do not thaw commercially frozen stuffed poultry before cooking. Follow package directions carefully on the storage and cooking of such items. • NOTE: A Rock Cornish hen is a variety of small roasting chicken. Ti'eat it like other poultry. Wild rice dressing, often its accom- paniment, is starchy and should be handled like bread-based dressings. 19 Hotdogs and Lunch Meat Hotdogs and lunch meats are processed to last longer than many other meat and poultry products. But if you keep them too long, you can have problems, mainly with spoilage. Here are some storage hints: • Refrigerate — Hotdogs and lunch meats will keep in the original vacuum-sealed package for 2 weeks. Once you open the package, though, you should re- wrap it well and plan to use the rest in 3-5 days. • Watch quality — For best flavor, use hotdogs no later than 1 week after the "Sell by" date on the package — that's the date that tells store managers how long they should keep an item for sale. And watch the liquid that often forms around hotdogs. If it's cloudy, it can be a sign that spoilage bacteria have started growing. Discard hot dogs in cloudy liquid. • Freezing? These products can be frozen, but flavor and texture loss may appear after a month or so. 20 Eggs & Egg'Rich Foods To turn an old phrase, there are good eggs and bad eggs. Good eggs — in the bacterial sense — are clean and unbroken. Use these eggs any time they'll be eaten partially cooked or raw. They should be used when you're fixing soft-cooked or poached eggs, soft scrambled eggs, a chef's salad dressing, custard, eggnogor ice cream. Bad eggs — here we mean soiled or cracked — can contain hai'mful bacteria. They should be used only in recipes where they'll be fully cooked — hard-cooked eggs, cakes, casseroles. More egg-tips: • Observe the HOT & COLD rules — Egg- rich foods offer a good place for bacteria to gi'ow, so serve them hot immediately after cooking and refrigerate them quickly after use. An egg-rich food to be served cold should be refrigerated right after preparation, and should be kept in the refrigerator until served. • Egg salad — Wash your hands, all surfaces, and utensils carefully when preparing egg salad. Keep it cold between servings. • Hardboiled eggs — Refrigerate hard-cooked eggs after preparation and use within a week. It's safe to have them outside an hour or two for an Easter egg hunt, for instance, but re-refrigerate those that are not eaten. • Be careful about refrigerator times — For best quahty, use whole eggs within the week of purchase. The outside limit for keeping whole eggs in the refrigerator is about 5 weeks. After that time, they begin to lose quality. For safety's sake, leftover yolks and whites should be used in 2-4 days. To keep them from drying out, you can cover yolks with cold water for refrigeration. 21 Marinades A marinade is a sauce used to flavor and tenderize meat and poultry. Marinades of all kinds are commercially available today, or you can make your own. Basically, a marinade consists of an acidic liquid (wine, lemon juice, or vinegar), spices and oil. To use marinades safely: * Marinate in glass or plastic — Marinades contain acid, and the process may take several hours, so you need a tray or bowl which won't be affected by acid. Avoid metal pans. • Marinate in the refrigerator — While the acid in the sauce will slow bacterial growth, it won't stop it. So anything to be marinated over an hour or so should steep in the refrigerator Leftover meat in a marinade can be frozen, but the meat fats and oil from the marinade will separate, forming a solid fat layer on top. Don't be alarmed. The sauce will melt together again nicely when reheated. Mayonnaise Don't ever try to freeze mayonnaise! A small disaster is what you get if you tiy to freeze a salad made with mayonnaise. This applies equally whether the other ingredients are meat, poultry, eggs, tuna, or macaroni. While the other ingredients may freeze fine, the mayo, holding everything together, will separate. What you get when you try to defrost it, is an oily mess. After opening, place mayonnaise, which keeps best at 50°F, in the warmest part of the refrigerator — on the shelves farthest from the freezing compartment or in the door For best flavor, use it within 2 months. A final word — mayo is not a villain! Contrary to what you may have thought, adding mayonnaise to food does not increase the risk of food poisoning. In fact, most commercially prepared mayonnaises and salad dressings contain lemon juice or some other acid flavoring, which slows bacterial gi'owth. Salt in mayonnaise also retards bacterial growth. So, really, adding mayonnaise to food slightly in- creases its resistance to food poisoning. 22 Canned ^lOOCIo Canned foods — whether in tins or glass jars — will keep practically forever, right? Wrong. Commercial canning is done under tightly controlled conditions — careful sanitation, just the right heat and timing — but there are still limits to how long it will preserve food. Why? There are several factors that limit the shelf-life of canned foods. First, all sections of a metal can are not equally strong. Some cans have side and end seams that can rust and rupture, causing them to leak. Shipping accidents — where cans fall or are crushed — cause many of these problems. Then there's can corrosion. In all foods, but especially in high-acid foods like canned tomatoes, the food continually reacts chemically with the metal container. Over several years, this can cause taste and texture changes, and eventually lower the nutritional value of the food. High temperatures (over 100°F) are harmful to canned goods too. The risk of health problems jumps sharply as storage temperatures rise. In fact, canned goods designed for use in the tropics are specially manufactured. And accidentally frozen canned goods left in a car or basement in subzero temperatures can also present health problems. If the cans are merely swollen — and you're sure the swelling was caused by freezing — thoroughly cook the contents right away. You can eat or refreeze the cooked food. But if the seams have rusted or bui'st, throw the cans out. While extremely rare, botulism (see page 7) is the worst problem you can encounter in canned goods. Never use food from containers giving out possible botulism warnings — leaking, bulging, or badly dented cans, cracked jars or jars with loose or bulging lids, canned food with a foul odor, or any container that spurts liquid when you open it. Don't even taste such food! Seal the product in a plastic bag and mark it "Danger" Refrigerate it on a high shelf, out of the reach of children. A health official may want to examine it later For full details on reporting suspect canned goods, see page 27, "Phoning in a Report." To use canned foods wdsely, follow these rules: • Store canned foods in a cool, clean dry place. Temperatures below 85°F are best. • Canned Ham — Store it in the refrigerator for use within 6-9 months. • Low- acid canned goods — Store in the cabinet for 2-5 years. Products: Canned meat and poultiy, stews, vegetable soups (except tomato), spaghetti (noodle & pasta) products, potatoes, corn, carrots, spinach, beans, beets, peas, pumpkin. 23 ® High-acid canned goods — Store in the cabinet for 12-18 months. Products: Juices — tomato, orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit; to- matoes; grapefruit; pineapple; apples and apple products; mixed fruit; peaches; pears; plums; all berries; pickles; sauerkraut; and foods treated with vinegar-based sauces or dressings, like German potato salad and sauerbraten. * Boil all home-canned foods before serving — First bring the food to a rapid boil. This brings out any tell-tale botulinum odors. Some botulinum bacteria produce gas you can smell. If the product smells all right, lower the heat and continue boiling the food, covered, for a second period: 10 minutes for high-acid foods, and 20 minutes for low- acid foods— meat and poultry' products, peas, beans, and corn. The second boiling kills any botulinum toxin that might be present even though you can't smell it. Complete both boiling periods be- fore tasting for quality or to add season- ing. But if a spoiled odor appears or the food is foaming or looks odd, throw it out without tasting. 24 What to Do When the Freezer Fails n .. t ,,a„i, vi, , your freezer fails. Freezers are w fll-iiisulated, and each packa.u'' ol' frozen food acts as a "block of ice" protecting the food around it. Ordinarily, a fully stocked freezer will keep food frozen for 2 days after losint2,' power. A half-full freezer can maintain fi-eezin.u' power for roughly 1 day. So, the first thing to find out is how long your freezer will be out. If it can be started again within a safe time, you don't need to do anything. Just resist the temptation to keep looking inside. Each time you open the door, warm air rushes in, reducing the freezer's effectiveness. However, if it can't be re-started in a day or two, you may want to: • Divide your food up among friends' freezers. • Find a store, church, or school freezer that will temporarily accept your food, or, if possible, rent space in a commercial freezer or cold storage plant. • Put dry ice in your freezer. Diy ice must be handled carefully. NEVER TOUCH IT WITH YOUR HANDS. It freezes everything it touches. If possible, have the merchant put the dry ice in your picnic cooler or in a cardboard box. This makes handling it in the car easier. If you must remove it from the carrying case when you get home, use heavy gloves or tongs. Work with diy ice in a well- ventilated area. As it evaporates, diy ice can quickly drive the oxygen you need to breathe out of a small area. 25 Place the dry ice on empty shelves in the freezer around the items to be kept frozen — not directly touching the packages themselves. You can also put a layer of cardboard over the freezer items and place the ice on top of the cardboard. Tu'enty-five pounds of dry ice should hold a 10-cubic-foot full freezer below freezing for 3-4 days. If the freezer is half full, the same amount of ice will keep it stable for 2-3 days. Judging your food after a freezer-thaw — Do not stick your head down into the freezer after its been full of dry ice for several hours. There may not be enough oxygen left for you to breathe. Open the freezer and let outside air mix in before examining your food. Meat or poultiy that still contains ice crystals may safely be refrozen. For meat and poultiy products that have been kept in a refrigerator section, though, or have only managed to stay "cool-feeling," cooking is a better option. After you cook these items, you can refreeze them. Throw out any product that has even a slightly unusual color or odor. When the Refrigerator Fails When power goes off in the refrigerator, you can normally expect your food to last at least 4 to 6 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is. Higher room tempera- tures will mean it won't last as long. You can add block ice to the refrigerator to keep it cool if there's a delay in getting the power back on. Dry ice can be added to the freezer compartment. 26 Reporting ^OOCf f f ffl©S3 Despite your best efforts, you or youi- fam- ily could get food poisoning. Most such incidents occur at home. Othei's are caused by mistakes in large-scale food handling. You read about them in the paper when 20 or 80 people become ill after a lai'ge banquet, picnic, or reception. If you think you have food poisoning, what should you do? Treating symptoms • If you're only mildly ill, treat the symptoms pretty much like "Hu." Keep up your liquid intake with water, tea, apple juice, bouillon, and ginger ale to replace fluids lost thi'ough diari-hea or vomiting. • If symptoms are severe, or the victim is quite young, elderly, or has a chronic illness, see your doctor immediately or seek hospital care. Phoning in a report • There are three situations, typically, in which you should notify your local health authorities: 1) you ate the suspect food at a large gathering; 2) the food is from a restaurant, delicatessen, 27 sidewalk vendor, or other commercial or institutional kitchen; or 3) the suspect food is a commercial product. Whatever the case, the deciding factor is whether other people have eaten the suspect food. IVy to have this information ready when you phone: • Your name, address and daytime phone number. « A brief explanation of the problem: Where did you eat the suspect food? How many other people ate it? Was it at a private or public gathering? When (date) did this occur? • If you ate the food at a restaurant, what is the name and address? Date you ate there? If the suspect food is a commercial product, have the container in hand so you can refer to it while you're on the phone. • TVy to remember when and where you bought the product. The name and location of the store is a great help. • Look at the container itself. All products give the manufacturer's name and address. • On meat and poultry products, look at the USDA inspection stamp for the official plant or establishment number. On red meat products, you'll see something like "EST. 38," and on poultiy products "P-42." The number identifies the processing plant where the product was made. • Many products also show a lot or batch number. This is a code indicating on what day and factory shift the item was produced. This information can be vital in tracing a problem to its roots. After you've reported the incident, wrap the product in a plastic bag marked "Danger." Keep it refrigerated out of the reach of children. Health officials may want to examine it to see if a product recall — where the food is removed from stores and warehouses and consumers alerted to the danger — is necessary. 28 Index B bacteria botulinuni, 7 pertVingens, 6 Salmonella, 5-6 spoilage, 4 staphylococcus aureus, 5 growth rates — temperature chart, 8 beef, 11, 14, 17 botulism — signs of, 7, 23-24, preserving suspect foods, 23, 28 buffet-style serving, 6, 9-10 canned goods, commercial, 23-24 botulism in, 23 freezing, 23 shelf-life, 23-24 canning, home, 7, 24 chicken, 11, 14, 19 salmonella infection in, 5-6 with stuffing, 19 cold storage of meat, poultry (chart) with freezer, refrigerator times, 14 cooking, 9-10, 11 frozen food, 10 leftovers, 10 partial cooking — advice against, 10 cooking temperatures of meat, poultry (chart), 11 Cornish hen — cooking, stuffing, 19 cross-contamination, 15 H food illness, 5-7, 27-28 botulism, 7 pei'fringens, 6 salmonella infection, 5-6 staph infection, 5 trichinosis, 16 reporting to health authorities, 27-28 freezer burn, 12 freezer failure — coping, 25-26 frozen foods — wrapping, dating, & thawing, 12-13, cooking, 10 fruits, high-acid canned — shelf-life, 24 gravy — storing, 14, reheating, 10 growth of bacteria — chart on "danger zone" temperatures, 8 ham, 11, 14, 18 hamburger, 11, 14, 17 home canning, 7, 24 botulism in, 7, 24 microwave ovens — don't use for home canning, 16 reporting food illness in, 27-28 hotdogs, 14, 20 HOTLINE, on MEAT & POULTRY — USDA's phone service for consumers, 32 deboning of poultry before storing, 19 dressing, use with poultry, 19 diy ice, 25-26 duck, 11, 14, 19 eggs, 21 egg-rich foods, 6, 21 K kitchen cleanliness, 13-15 counters, 15 keeping pets, household pests out of area, 15 towels & utensils, 15 29 M labels, food, 13-15 leftovers — storing, 14, re-heating, 10 life-cycles of food poisoning bacteria, 8 lunch meat, 14, 20 mayonnaise, 22 marinades, marinating, 22 MEAT & POULTRY QUESTIONS —using the USDA Hotline, 32 microwave ovens — how they woi"k, 16, use with meat/poultry, 16 smell, odd — spoilage sign, 4, botulism warning, 24 spoilage, food — bacteria that cause, 4 spores — botulinum, 7, perfringens, 6 staph — Staph ijlococcns oxreiis, 5 stuffing (poultry) — preparation, serving & storing, 19 suspect food — reporting, 27-28, refrigerating, 23, disposing of, 7 symptoms of food poisoning, 5-7 P R odor, off — spoilage sign in meat, poultry, 4, 17 botulism warning in canned goods, 23-24 package dating — Sell-by, Use-by, 13-15 party-giving — handling large quantities of food, 6, 9-13 perfringens, 6 pets, pests — as carriers of food poisoning bacteria, 15 refrigerator — coping with power failure, 26 refrigeration — rules for perishable foods, 12-13, Chart, 14 reporting food illness, 27-28 Rock Cornish hen — cooking, wild rice dressing, 19 salads macaroni, potato, meat — preparation, serving, storing, 5, 9-10, 12-13, 13-15 salmonella, 5-6 sanitation — kitchen, 13-15 personal, 15 serving foods — the 2-hour rule, 10 shopping for perishable foods, 13-15 u tainted food — see "suspect" temperature range for bacterial growth, 8 thawing — safe procedures, 12-13 toxin production — staph, 5, botulism, 7 trichinosis, 16 turkey, 11. 14, stuffing & cooking, 19 use-by dates — for product quality, freshness, 13-15 vegetables, canned — shelf-life, 23-24, botulism danger, 7, 24 30 For More Information You Can Order 1. SAFE FOOD TO GO— A Guide to Packing Lunches, Picnicking & Cooking Out Home & Garden Bulletin Number 242 January 1985 2. TALKING ABOUT TURKEY — How to Buy, Store, Thaw, Stuff & Prepare Your Holiday Bird Home & Garden Bulletin Number 243 July 1984 3. MEAT & POULTRY LABELS WRAP IT UP— With What You Need to Know Home & Garden Bulletin Number 238 March 1984 Order publications 1-3 from: FSIS — Publications, Rm. 1163-S, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250 4. LET'S COOK FISH — Covers buying, storing & preparing seafood. ($2.75, Stock No. 003-020-00053-3.) Order from: Supt. of Documents, GPO Washington, DC 20402 Or Call On fish — Preventing bacterial and parasitic deseases you can get from eating fish: U.S. Dept. of Commerce — NO A A National Marine Fisheries Service 3300 Whitehaven Ave. Washington, DC 20235 202/634-7458 On food other than meat or poultry — safety, labehng & ingi'edients: Look for an FDA listing in your town. or call the: FDA Office of Consumer Affairs HFE-88, 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, Md. 20857 301/443-3170 On food handling, nutrition and storage questions: Call the Cooperative Extension Service — fisted in local phone books under county government or State university. 31 To Reach USD A's Mb^ & Poultry Hotline, Call (202) 472-4485 Hotline staffers can answer your questions on the proper handling of meat and poultiy, how to tell if it's safe to eat, and how to read meat and poultiy labels. • • ^ You can also call the hotline to report problems with meat and poultry products — there are glass or metal fragments in it, or it looks or smells strange. Follow this procedure: First, refrigerate a sample of the product — if possible, in its original container. Then tell the store where you bought it about the problem. NOW call the hotline. We'll tell you what you should do and whether health authorities should be notified. The hotline is staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EST) week- days. If you call after hours, an answering machine takes your name and number so someone can return your call. You can also write to: The Meat and Poultiy Hotline USDA-FSIS, Rm. 1163-S Washington, DC 20250. 32 BOCUMENT Quiz Answers: Questions 1 , 3 and 7 are TRUE, the rest are FALSE. Why? For the reasons, see p. 3 for Question 1 , p. 5 for 2, p. 8 for 3, p. 17 for 4, p. 23 for 5, pps.12and 22 for 6, and p. 15 for 7. Question 8 is FALSE. Only an estimated 1 to 2 percent of Individual cases of food poisoning are ever reported to health officials. Victims often just think they have the "flu." They may not call a doctor, or the doctor may not be able to tell exactly v\/hat they have — lab tests are often needed to diagnose food poisoning. I'lJIVERSITY OF FIORIDA 3 1262 08850 3908 « e e o • N •'lo-' \ Test Your Food Safety f Q False 'n-ue False 1. Some 2 million Americans are struck by food poison- ing each year. 2. You can take a small taste to decide whether to use food that looks or smells strange. 3. Food poisoning bacteria multiply rapidly at ordinary room temperatures. 4. Hamburger is less likely to contain food poisoning bac- teria than most fresh meat and poulti-y because the grinding destroys them. 5. You usually don't have to worry about canned goods. They keep almost indefinitely. 6. Because room temperature speeds things up, the n kitchen counter is better than the refrigerator for thawing and marinating D D meat and poultry. n 7. Your pets can bring food poisoning bacteria into the kitchen. □ □ n 8. Because the public is so concerned, cases of food poisoning are usually re- ported to health authorities. □ □ For the answers, see the inside D back cover. D O