As if you don’t have enough to do or think about before an eagerly anticipated — or dreaded — start of another school year, here’s something else to keep in mind: food safety.
While most doting parents don’t usually put that at the top of their back-to-school lists, having a conversation about this important topic will likely help everyone learn more about safe food-handling.
Food-borne illness, or food poisoning, can happen when certain disease-causing bacteria, viruses, or parasites (aka pathogens) contaminate the foods we eat.
But don’t worry. In the United States, our food supply is among the safest in the world.
That said, it’s hard to believe that about 1 in 6 Americans are stricken with food poisoning each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million persons get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from food-borne infection and illness in the United States annually. Many of these people are children, older adults, or people with weakened immune systems who may not be able to fight infection normally.
Knowledge is power, so knowing the facts and practicing safe food-handling habits every day will help reduce your family’s risk of getting sick from contaminated food, since food-borne illness can be serious or even fatal.
While packing your child’s nutritious and tasty lunch, keep these valuable tips in mind.
Marianne H. Gravely of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Education Food Safety and Inspection Service in Washington, D.C. reminds parents that food-poisoning bacteria grow rapidly at temperatures warmer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and in just two hours can reach dangerous levels. So, it’s important that your child’s lunch stay cold.
“One way to make sure the food stays cold is to assemble the components of your child’s lunch the night before and refrigerate everything, so that when you pack the lunch, all the food starts out cold,” says Gravely.
And every parent knows that using an insulated lunch bag or box is important. It should contain at least two cold sources, such as a cold juice box or frozen bottle of water and an ice pack, to keep your child’s lunch fresh and yummy.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service website (www.fsis.usda.gov), even as the weather gets colder, perishable food — including meat, poultry and eggs — must always stay cold. That’s especially true during the summer. In between store and home, transport perishable food as fast as possible when no ice source is available. At home, refrigerate perishables promptly. Food should not be left out at room temperature more than two hours – one hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you pack prepackaged combos for lunch, keep them cold, because they often contain perishable foods like deli meats, cheese, and cut fruit.
Gravely suggests that parents pack just the amount of perishable food that can be eaten at lunchtime. That way, there won’t be a problem about the storage or safety of leftovers. After lunch, discard all leftover food, used food packaging, and paper bags. And, don’t reuse packaging, because it could contaminate other food.
Before you know it, old man winter will be here, so using an insulated container to keep soup, chili, and stew at the proper temperature, so that hot lunches stay hot is a good idea.
“But first, fill that container with boiling water then let it stand for a few minutes, empty, before putting in the piping hot food,” says Gravely.
And remind your family to wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water just before eating, cutting, or cooking.
Cross-contamination is a big no-no!
The estimated number of reports of salmonella infections each year is about 42,000. It’s the most frequent cause of food-borne illnesses, according to the Department of Agriculture. And almost 50 percent of those cases are infants and school-age children.
Remember that harmful bacteria can get onto cutting boards, utensils, and countertops, so always use a clean surface for prepping food. After cutting up raw meat and poultry, wash the board with hot water and anti-bacterial dish detergent. You can also sanitize cutting boards and counters with another homemade solution: Add 2/3 cup of bleach to a gallon of water and pour it into a spray bottle for easy use. Then you’re ready to prep bread, veggies, fruit and cheese. Consider using one cutting board for fresh produce and another one for meat and poultry.
More helpful, safe food-handling hacks come from www.kraftrecipes.com:
Store raw meat, poultry, and seafood tightly wrapped on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. This prevents the raw juices from dripping onto other food.
Always marinate food in the refrigerator, not on the countertop. Discard leftover marinades that have been used with raw meat, poultry, or seafood.
Replace and wash dish towels and sponges often to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria throughout the kitchen. Use paper towels to dry washed hands after handling raw foods.
Reminder: Before packing lunches, wash your hands with soap and warm water (ideally for 20 seconds), especially if you’re sick or have just thrown out the garbage, or even handled your cell phone. Yuk! (Research has shown that phones are riddled with bacteria, so clean them daily with a sanitizing wipe.)
And don’t forget to pack a disposable hand wipe in the lunchbox for your favorite student.
If you’re feeling like you might be developing mild Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by now, don’t fret. Take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that what you’ve been doing so far is more than likely okay, food safety-wise. Chances are nobody has come down with food poisoning in your family, and they probably never will, so just keep up the good work.
Beyond school lunches
Thanksgiving isn’t that far away, so if you’d like to find out three ways to thaw a turkey safely, you can visit:
www.flick
By the way: The universal “thaw law” says — Always thaw food in the refrigerator. Never defrost food at room temperature on the countertop.
Protect your baby and yourself
Safe food handling and prepping is super important if you’re pregnant. You can download or print out this booklet, which will also cover foods to avoid during pregnancy, and much more.
www.fda.gov/
Did you know that pregnant women are at higher risk of getting sick from Listeria monocytogenes, a harmful bacterium found in many foods? Listeria can cause a disease called Listeriosis, that can result in miscarriage, premature delivery, serious sickness, or the death of a newborn baby. If you are pregnant, you need to know what foods are safe to eat.
According to the USDA, these foods are associated with Listeriosis:
• Hot dogs, luncheon meats, bologna, or other deli meats – unless they are reheated until steaming hot.
• Refrigerated pâté, meat spreads from a meat counter, or smoked seafood found in the refrigerated section of the store. Foods that do not need refrigeration, like canned meat spreads, are okay to eat. Remember to refrigerate after opening.
• Raw (unpasteurized) milk and foods that have unpasteurized milk in them.
• Salads made in the store, such as ham salad, chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad, or seafood salad.
• Soft cheeses such as feta, queso blanco, queso fresco, brie, camembert, blue-veined cheeses, and panela, unless it is labeled as “made with pasteurized milk.”
For more info., visit: www.fsis.usda.gov/
If you are the parent or caretaker of a child whose immune system is weakened by a serious illness, or you have an older relative or friend (65 and older), make sure that safe food handling is practiced each time a meal is prepared. Infants and young children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems caused by cancer treatment, diabetes, AIDS, and bone marrow and organ transplants, are at greatest risk for food-borne illness.
Because all parents lead hectic lives, food safety concerns aren’t a priority for most. But when it comes to our precious children, it’s important to stay informed, because kids are the most vulnerable to food poisoning.
Taking extra precautions makes great sense, so here’s one more suggestion: Remind your youngsters to keep backpacks on the floor, not on the kitchen table or counters. I’ve tried it for years, but it never worked for me. Perhaps it will work for you!
Gravely recommends the free Foodkeeper app, available for Apple and Android devices. It has storage information for hundreds of foods.
Tammy Scileppi is a Queens-based freelance writer and journalist, parent, and regular contributor to New York Parenting. Scileppi’s work has appeared in a variety of media outlets.
