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food poisoning

Food-Borne Illness Is Rising — What About Food Recalls?

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how to handle food recalls
About 48 million people fall ill from food poisoning or food-related illness every year in the U.S.. More than 128,000 of those people end up hospitalized and another 3,000 die, costing the U.S. economy more than $15.6 billion annually. Food recalls have been on the rise in the U.S.

Most people associate food poisoning with raw chicken and seafood — but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says other types of causes are rising.

Your Salad May Not Be That Healthy

Produce caused nearly half of all food-borne illness in the U.S. each year and leafy greens lead to 25% of all food poisoning cases annually, the CDC says.

Dairy and eggs account for 20% of food poisoning. Meat and poultry claim 22%, while fish claims 6% of the blame for food-borne illness in the U.S. annually.

Most recently, CDC officials, along with the Food and Drug Administration, have been searching for the source of an E. coli outbreak that contaminated a large amount of romaine lettuce in Yuma. So far, 98 people have fallen ill and 10 have developed kidney failure.
“Do not eat or buy romaine lettuce unless you can confirm it is not from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region,” CDC officials warned the public. This includes prepackaged salads and romaine lettuce in restaurants.

What to Do When There’s a Food Recall

Because one in six Americans falls ill from food poisoning each year, paying attention to food recalls can be important. You could end up eating something extremely dangerous. What do you do when you have a piece of food that has been recalled?

According to the Federal Food Safety website, these are the steps you should take after a food recall.

  1. Before you get too frazzled, identify whether the product you have is actually the item being recalled. For instance, a recent egg recall in North Carolina only applied to eggs in 18-count packages that had the date of April 3 on them. A carton of a dozen eggs would not have been in danger of contamination.
  2. If you in fact own the recalled product, you should return it to the store right away. In most cases, the store should issue you a refund.
  3. If you have consumed the recalled food, watch for food poisoning symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
  4. Lastly, clean your kitchen. If you had recalled meat or produce in your refrigerator, you should clean it thoroughly. Also be sure to clean any surfaces you may have prepared (or started to prepare) those items.

Even if you aren’t in possession of any recalled food right now, it’s important to stay abreast of the topic due to the rising rate of food-borne illness and food recalls in the U.S.

Readers, are you concerned about the E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce? What steps do you take to protect yourself?

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Simple Safety Tips for Barbecuing Memorial Day Weekend

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Memorial Day barbecuing safety tips
Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer, and with it comes with some seasonal dangers. Barbecuing is one of the activities which comes with some risks. It’s important to take action to help reduce the likelihood of accidents happening when you decide to begin grilling. As with many things, preventing injuries from occurring not only will save you a lot of pain and suffering, it will also be good for your pocketbook.

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the barbecuing season for many people. For those who barbecue, they’ll also be spending more time in the sun. It’s essential to make sure you put plenty of sunscreen and proper clothing on to protect your skin. The vast majority of people simply don’t know how to correctly put on sunscreen, so it’s worth learning how. It’s also important to make sure that you reapply it often during the day. Doing so can save you thousands of dollars by keeping your skin wrinkle-free longer as you grow older by not having the need to purchase expensive wrinkle creams. It can also help prevent costly medical expenses that would come with the development of skin cancer.

Another major risk that comes with barbecuing is food poisoning. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that some 48 million Americans will contract food poisoning this year. To help prevent food poisoning, it’s important to not to leave food sitting out for extended periods of time in the sun before cooking it. For meat that you put on the grill, make sure that it gets thoroughly cooked. It’s advisable to use a meat thermometer to ensure that heat is getting caught throughout, not just burning the outside, which can be a common occurrence with barbecues. It’s also important to wash all vegetables before you put them on the grill. By taking some simple precautions, you can reduce the risk of getting food poisoning when barbecuing.

The space around barbecue grill can be a dangerous place for kids. It’s important to keep children away from hot grills where they could have an accident that could result in the child getting burned. Experts recommend a 3-foot kid-free zone around barbecues to lessen the danger.

It’s also important to make sure that the barbecue grill is clean to begin the summer season. Many people put away their grills for winter without properly cleaning them. Fat and grease that accumulates over the grilling season can catch fire and send up flames unexpectedly which can injure a person. Cobwebs can have the same effect. Clean the barbecue grill to prevent these issues.

(Photo courtesy of slgckgc)

32000 Lbs of Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Recalled for High Risk of Contamination

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Bell and Evans glutten free breaded chicken breast nuggets recalled due to possible contamination
Murry’s, a Pennsyvania based company, has issued a recall on Gluten Free breaded chicken after the Colorado Department of Agriculture discovered there was high risk that the chicken was contaminated. The Federal Emergency Response Network lab discovered the toxins during a routine inspection. The Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Nuggets from Bell and Evans have been officially recalled for staphylcoccal enterotoxoins. The USDA issued a statement in complete cooperation backing Murry’s for the recall.

Staphylcoccla enterotoxins is caused by a staph infection-type bacteria and can result in food poisoning if eaten. The food poisoning occurs when food contains the toxin-producing staphylococcus aureus bacteria. If ingested, the toxins can cause adverse effects in as little as 30 minutes, and can take up to six hours to set in, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Effects include a wide range of gastrointestinal reactions from nausea to cramps and diarrhea. All effects last anywhere between one to three days.

No reports of possible food poisoning have been filed yet, but since the recall was only issued within the last 48 hours, there may be a few cases that are yet unknown. Murry’s and the USDA did jump on this recall quickly and hope it will result in fewer instances of actual food poisoning. If you suspect you are having symptoms or have questions, all agencies are referring people to their own doctors.

If you have some of this in your fridge or freezer, look for these specifics: a “best buy” date of August 9, 2015, a USDA inspection identifier mark of P-516. Look specifically on Bell and Evans 12 ounce boxes of Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Breast Nuggets and 10 ounce boxes of Gluten Free Breaded Chicken Breasts.

Approximately 31,689 pounds of the product have been placed on the recall list for the bacteria that is found on the skin and noses of healthy humans and animals. To prevent contamination, it is best to follow proper food handling procedures: keep surfaces and kitchens clean and sanitized and don’t prepare food if you have infection in your eyes or nose or with open sores on your hands.

How to Prevent Food Poisoning

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Two weeks ago I got food poisoning. I got it from a deli sandwich that either had bad mayo or meat on it. This wasn’t a little, twenty-four hour case of food poisoning, either. This was a full-blown-week-long-have-to-go-to-the-doctor-because-I’m-dangerously-dehydrated kind of food poisoning. Let me tell you, it wasn’t fun. (Although losing eleven pounds in a week was kind of thrilling.) Aside from being miserable it was expensive, what with the doctor’s visits, medications, and missed work.

The only way I could have prevented this unpleasantness was to have stuck with my frugality and not eaten out that day. But, since it was a small celebration, I went. Unfortunately, the person who was celebrating chose the restaurant and it didn’t have that great of a sanitation grade. I didn’t want to rock the boat, so I went along and I paid the price. This isn’t to say that you should never eat out, but there are some ways to prevent or reduce your risk of getting food poisoning and thus incurring the misery and expenses involved.

Wash everything: Wash all of your produce when you get it home, even things that are “pre-washed.” The washing it got at the factory may not have been sufficient to remove all bacteria.

Check sanitation grades: When eating out, check the sanitation grade of the restaurant. The higher the better.

Don’t eat anything that’s expired: Once food is past it’s expiration date, be very careful. Some foods can be eaten after they’ve technically “expired,” but others go bad fast. If it smells off or has a strange taste, toss it.

Don’t eat out often: The more you eat out, the more you put yourself at risk. You don’t have control over food preparation at a restaurant and you’re relying on them to obey all the rules. Most do, but some cut corners and that can be bad news for you.

Be picky about restaurant food: When eating out, decline things like mayonnaise, mayo based dressings, and egg or mayo based salads. Many restaurants do a good job with these items, but these items are also great breeders of food borne bacteria. If they are not properly refrigerated at all times, it’s very easy for them to develop illness causing bacteria.

Cook everything thoroughly: Cook everything to it’s recommended temperature. Eating raw or undercooked food is begging for food poisoning.

Clean your hands, counters, utensils, and cutting boards thoroughly after preparing meats and other risky foods: And don’t use the knife or cutting board you used for meat for other things without thoroughly cleaning them first. If possible, keep two cutting boards and use one for meat and the other for everything else. And wash your hands before eating!

Be careful when thawing food: Don’t thaw it on a counter or outside. Put it in the fridge or use the microwave.

Promptly refrigerate leftovers: Don’t leave them on the counter or picnic table for hours. Get them in the cooler as soon as possible.

Get food home in a hurry: Do your grocery shopping last so your meats, cheeses. and dairy products get into the fridge promptly. Don’t go grocery shopping and then run five more errands before heading home. This is particularly true in the summer heat.

Go with your gut: If it looks funny, smells bad, or tastes strange, throw it away or, if at a restaurant, send it back and ask for something else. Don’t be shy about protecting your health.

Don’t be afraid to ask to go to a different restaurant: This was my tragic mistake. I knew the place we were going wasn’t that great as far as sanitation goes, but I didn’t want to say anything. I should have asked if there was somewhere else we could go.

If, despite your best efforts, you suspect you have food poisoning, get to the doctor immediately. Like an idiot, I waited too long and it took more time (and money) to get me back to normal. You may not be able to prevent every case of food poisoning, but taking some simple precautions can keep you from enduring what I just did.

Should You Eat Food after the Expiration Date?

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Today’s question to get your morning rolling is, Should you eat food after the expiration date?

This is an argument that my wife and I often get into when the food in the refrigerator goes past the date marked on the package. My wife’s automatic reaction is to look at the date and throw out anything if the date has passed. I, on the other hand, will smell and look at it and if it appears to still be good, go ahead and consume it.

This, of course, is met with and lecture that she will not have any sympathy for me when I come down with food poisoning and need to be rushed to the hospital. I can’t say I’m much better as I give her the lecture that it’s a waste of good money to throw out food just because the date on the package has expired and the food is still obviously good.

I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Although I don’t go out of my way to be as extreme as this guy, it shows that people throw away a lot of food that is still edible. What is your take? Is it worth the risk to save and not waste the food, or is it better to play it safe and not wind up getting sick and ending up in the doctor’s office due to spoiled food?

Please share your own experiences on this topic as a wide variety of views and thoughts are helpful to everyone. If there is one thing that I have learned about personal finances from all of you is that there are always exceptions to the rule and differing circumstances can mean completely different solutions. If you have a blog and you have written about this topic in the past, feel free to link to your writing (although a short summary would be helpful). If you have recently read a good article on this topic, please links and share in the comments.