The Recipe Doctor
From low-fat recipes to recipes designed for persons with diabetes, Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, shares recipes and advice to create healthy meals that are guaranteed to please. [Editor's note: Elaine no longer contributes to Silver Planet, but we have made her archived blog entries available as a service to our readers.]
Afraid of Getting Food Poisoning?
Ask questions and be assertive
The thought of getting food poisoning frightens me. You, too? Here are two strategies you can use to protect yourself in restaurants.
- You can protect yourself by first choosing which restaurant to visit—whether eating in or ordering to go.
Restaurants are supposed to be inspected by your local health department to make sure they are clean and have adequate kitchen facilities. You can find out how restaurants did on their most recent inspection by calling your local health department or searching its Web site for this information. In many regions, the latest inspection score is physically posted in the restaurant. In my particular county, you can visit the county health service Web site and search for a restaurant name to get specific inspection results.
- You can also protect yourself from food-borne disease when ordering specific foods.
When ordering a hamburger, for example, ask for it to be cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees F, and send it back if it is still pink in the middle. You can order it ”well done” to eliminate any pink inside the burger, if that appeals to you.
And before you order something that is made with many eggs pooled together, such as scrambled eggs, omelets or French toast, ask the waiter whether it was made with pasteurized egg, and choose something else if it was not. Your other option is to order your egg dish with egg substitute (which is pasteurized). I do this when I order scrambled eggs in restaurants and it always turns out well for me, but I’m pretty familiar with egg substitutes.
By Elaine Magee, MPH, RD
The Recipe
Doctor Blog
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