Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Food Safety 101

Food Safety 101
My daughter asked me the other day if the food we buy in the store safe. Her question was generated by the recent rash of biological contamination on lettuce, onions and spinach. The concern is understandable and the best way to answer the question is to say that it is safe; however, all fresh foods should be handled as if they were contaminated. I have used one method to insure this for almost twenty years; a bleach bath. Almost twenty years ago there was a food borne illness outbreak reported on the news and the culprit was determined to be the melons on the salad bar. The restaurant did not do anything wrong; however, there was a contamination of salmonella bacteria on the outside of the melons that came from a field that had been irrigated with untreated sewer water.
It had never occurred to anyone this practice posed a potential threat. My boss at the time had us start making a MILD solution of bleach water in the sink to rinse the melons in when they came in from the supplier. The process is simple, just fill your sink up 2/3 full of cool water, and to about 2 gallons of water, add one small cap-full of bleach. Place the melons or other vegetables in the water and gently rinse them for about one minute. Drain and rinse the sink, and refill with cool water, then rinse the melons or vegetables for about 3 minutes. Once you pat them dry, put them in containers and place in the refrigerator. There are some exceptions such as fruits like strawberries, only because they are such a fragile produce. I teach this method in my cooking class and the local health department is OK with it. However, they are quick to point out that the solution is important. If it is too strong you will not get the results you are looking for, and there could be a residual of bleach left on the product effecting the taste. I always use a litmus test strip to check the strength level. For those of you who are interested in the exact measurement, the solution strength should be between 50 and 100 parts per million. I use this process at home for all my produce and chicken just to be safe. I hope this is useful information, until next time Bon Appetite. Come see me at: www.myfoodconsultant.com and read my other blogs at; www.cdmworld.com

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