Monday, July 29, 2013

Keep Your Friends and Family Safe from Foodborne Illnesses

Patrick, my husband, and I got into a food safety debate last night. He had made a delicious, egg-based casserole and he took it out of the oven about 11:00 p.m. when we were getting ready for bed. I insisted that it should be put in the refrigerator; he was certain that it was perfectly safe to let it cool on the counter, covered overnight. To resolve our dispute, he decided to ask an expert. He went to foodsafety.gov and posed the question to Karen, the Dear Abby of safe food handling.

Here's the question he posed:






And, Karen's response:



When Patrick told me I was right, I decided not to gloat. Then, he suggested that I probably should because it happens so rarely. Grrrr, I reconsidered. 

In all our talk about wellness -- what to eat, when we should buy organic, where we should source our food from, etc... we rarely discuss the safe handling of food. One in six (48 million) Americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. It's an important topic and this incident illustrates why you don't want to rely solely on your intuition. Summer is a good time for a refresher because bacteria can multiply especially rapidly in the heat. 

Foodsafety.gov is a definitive source of information on preparing, cooking and storing food safely. Watch this video to keep your friends and family safe from food borne illnesses. Remember....


Image from foodsafety.gov
and to listen to your wife.

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