Food safety begins in the home: Here’s how to protect your family

I get it, food safety is a boring topic.

When I would talk or write about food safety before Covid it usually elicited a yawn. Covid opened our minds to the potential deadly effects of bacteria, and we all spent many hours wiping down counters and food. Lest we not slip back into complete complacency, I share with my fellow Floridians a recent report from ABM Equipment that revealed Florida as the most dangerous state for food safety.

According to the most recent data from the CDC, food-borne illness by 31 pathogens caused 37.2 million illnesses, 228,744 hospitalizations and 2,612 deaths. The data that ABM looked at, which gave Florida its No. 1 shame status was the number of fast food chains, obesity rate, existence of food safety programs, food-borne illness reports, food insecurity rates and salmonella rates per 100,000 people.

We can’t control how restaurants handle food, but we are in charge of what happens in our homes. It is estimated that as many as 60% of food-borne illnesses may be rooted in home kitchens.

The top two categories for home food illness are produce and meat and poultry. And I’m not happy with this growing interest and minimization of the health issues associated with raw milk.

Here are tips for a healthier food environment at home.

▪ Start food prep with clean hands, counters and cooking tools. Thoroughly rinse fruit and vegetables before cutting . This includes melons. Do not wash poultry or meat. Clean the lids on canned goods before opening.

▪ Keep raw meat, poultry and fish away from other foods in your shopping cart, bags and refrigerator. Use a separate cutting board for raw foods only.

▪ Use a food thermometer to make sure food is cooked safely and perfectly. Chicken and meat do not need to be overcooked to be safe.

▪ Store food in the refrigerator within two hours after cooking. Marinate foods in the refrigerator.

Food safety is important for all of us. Those most vulnerable to harmful pathogens are pregnant women, folks who have depressed immune systems and older adults.

For more on safe food handling, go to www.fda.gov

Sheah Rarback is a registered dietitian nutritionist in private practice in Miami. srarback@hotmail.com