Which Foods Should We Be Extra Careful Handling?

• Certain produce items can become contaminated with Salmonella, Shigella, or Escherichia coli (E coli) during growing, harvesting, processing, storing, or shipping. It’s particularly important that you wash your spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, and melons before you start handling and cutting them.
• Eating uncooked eggs presents a risk for Salmonella enteritidis, bacteria that can be inside eggs. According to one estimate, one in 10,000 eggs may be contaminated with Salmonella inside the eggshell. The best way to eliminate the risk and kill the bacteria is to cook the egg or egg-containing foods or to use pasteurized eggs. Egg-substitute products that you buy in the store are generally pasteurized and therefore don’t present a risk if consumed uncooked.
• Bacteria can multiply quickly on cooked food left out for more than two hours at room temperature.
• Raw meat and raw meat juices, in general, can have bacteria present, which is why it’s important to keep raw meat away from fresh foods (like produce) that you are eating uncooked and why it’s important to thoroughly cook meat (which kills whatever bacteria are there). Back in 2002, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) ran tests on chicken meat from the supermarket and found that a particular bacterium (Campylobacter) was present on 70% of the chicken samples. Raw meat and poultry can become contaminated during the slaughter process.
• Seafood may become contaminated during harvesting and processing. Raw and undercooked shellfish is thought to be the source for two bacteria (Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus).