Salmonella And Holiday Weekends

Want to spend your weekend in the ER? With the holiday festivities many of us tend to relax and with relaxation we can expose ourselves and our families to the risk of food borne illness. So here goes:

• Wash hands before preparing food. If outside, use one of those hand sanitizers.
• If you are preparing chicken, hamburgers, steak or dishes using eggs (mayonnaise, potato salad, coleslaw, Caesar salads) wash your hands afterwards and clean the counters.
• Use a disposable paper towel instead of the usual sponge. (sponges are great breeding grounds for bacteria-dark, moist, and all sorts of places to conveniently grow)
• Have everyone wash hands after petting the dog or cat, before eating. Again pass around the hand sanitizer if you're not sure. This way you won't have to worry as much about someone's handwashing skills (or lack of skill!)
• If you have store bought produce use an antibacterial soap before you eat them. Rinsing will get rid of dirt, not bacteria.
• Outside use a cooler to keep cold foods cold and another to keep hot foods hot. Bacteria grows quickly when temperatures of hot foods drop below 140 degrees.
• Avoid having the grazing buffet. Though it's convenient it's a prime way to encourage bacteria to grow.
• If someone is elderly or their immune system is compromised because of infection, cancer, organ transplant, HIV go with fully cooked meat. (I know that's difficult. Hey I'm from Texas and I like my steak rare!)

Here's the doctor part of me coming out so bear with me. The CDC has finally announced the current salmonella (stpaul variety) outbreak has quieted down. The true cause was never determined.

Was it Serrano or jalapeño peppers or tomatoes? We'll never know. But you can protect your family, yourself and still have a fantastic weekend.

Remember ER's are interesting to watch on TV, you just don't want to be there unless you absolutely have to.

Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone. I'm going to BBQ this weekend so I'm off to get some steaks.

All in a gardener's day,

(For those readers not here in the US: Here in the US we're celebrating Labor Day-a time to acknowledge those who work and to say good-bye to summer. For many families this is the last weekend before school starts. It's time to have one last hurrah at the beach, fire up the grill or have a picnic in the park.)

Thanks to Aron Kremer for the photo.