Repell-em Blog

You may remember last year’s giant Spinach recall that was issued after 205+ people in 26 states became ill shortly after eating the vegetable. After an extensive six-month investigation conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration along with California’s Department of Health Services, it looks like the source of the outbreak has been traced back to one field.

According to a report released last Friday, pre-packaged spinach that was processed by Natural Selection Foods out of San Juan Bautista, Ca. contained the E.Coli bacteria and involved everything taken from one specific field on a specific single day. The contaminated spinach was then packaged and sold under the Dole variety of baby spinach.

Although a definite cause for the outbreak was unknown, several possible sources were listed including: tainted water and cow feces in a nearby area.

The situation has many calling for stricter control and more effective regulation. California State Senator Dean Florez told CNN, “The report is devoid of any action plan on how their recommendations should or will be implemented or by whom. I think it is very shameful that our state government, especially the agencies that are responsible for the health and welfare of the public, have relegated themselves as simple spectators to the most deadly E. coli outbreak emanating from California.”

With recent reports of this bacteria and other food illness increasingly becoming an issue, I thought now would be a perfect time to go over a few tips for effective food preparation:

1. Potentially hazardous food kept cold (below 41 degrees F.) or hot (above 135 degrees F.) — not held at room temperature, except during necessary preparation (should not exceed 2 hours).
2. Foods prepared on approved, clean, sanitized surfaces, with clean, sanitized equipment and utensils.
3. Defrost food properly - under refrigeration, under cool running water (not to exceed 2 hours), in a microwave oven, or during cooking; do not leave foods to defrost at room temperature.
4. Fruits and vegetables washed prior to preparation.
5. Foods covered or protected from contamination (dust, sneezing, coughing).
6. Do not prepare raw, cooked or ready-to-serve food on same work surface(s) (e.g., cutting board) without proper cleaning and sanitizing between uses.
7. Preparation equipment (slicers, grinders, knives, mixers) and food contact surfaces cleaned and sanitized between uses.
8. Thoroughly cook all potentially hazardous foods to proper temperatures; check temperature with a probe thermometer.
9. Reheat all potentially hazardous foods quickly to 165 degrees F; do not use warming equipment or steam tables to do this; check temperature with a probe thermometer.

Microwaves tend to cook unevenly; so stir the food or food container and check temperature. Cooking temperatures should be +15 degrees hotter than required temperatures.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 11:31 pm and is filed under Food Safety, Safety, Traveling, Outdoors, Repell-em. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.