10 am häufigsten übersehene Richtlinien zur Lebensmittelsicherheit

Lebensmittelvergiftung – ein Oberbegriff für Krankheiten, die durch Kontamination mit Bakterien und anderen Krankheitserregern verursacht werden – ist in den USA ein ernstes Problem. Eine Studie der US-amerikanischen Zentren für Krankheitskontrolle und -prävention (CDC) aus dem Jahr 2011 ergab, dass etwa 9,4 Millionen Menschen an bekannten Lebensmittelkrankheitserregern erkranken jedes Jahr. Davon werden fast 56.000 Menschen so krank, dass sie ins Krankenhaus müssen, und 1.351 sterben.

In einer Studie aus dem Jahr 2014 haben Forscher der University of California-Davis Videos von 120 gewöhnlichen Menschen gedreht, die zu Hause Essen zubereiten, und was sie sahen, war ziemlich alarmierend. Achtunddreißig Prozent wuschen sich nicht die Hände, nachdem sie rohes Hühnchen berührt hatten, und selbst unter denen, die es taten, wuschen sich nur etwa 10 Prozent für die empfohlenen 20 Sekunden; ein Drittel vernachlässigte die Verwendung von Seife [Quelle: Food Safety News ].

Das Beängstigendste war jedoch, dass fast alle Probanden – 84 Prozent – ​​sich als sachkundig in Lebensmittelsicherheit einschätzten, und 48 Prozent sagten, sie hätten sogar eine formelle Schulung zum Umgang mit Lebensmitteln erhalten [Quelle: Food Safety News ] .

Das sagt uns, dass es ein guter Zeitpunkt für einen Auffrischungskurs zum Thema Lebensmittelsicherheit in der Küche ist. Hier sind 10 Richtlinien, die wir oft auf eigene Gefahr übersehen.

1. Waschen Sie Ihre Hände richtig
2. Probieren Sie kein Essen, um zu sehen, ob es gut ist
3. Waschen Sie Obst und Gemüse, auch wenn Sie sie schälen wollen
4. Bewahren Sie Reste nicht zu lange im Kühlschrank auf
5. Tauen Sie Lebensmittel nicht auf der Küchentheke auf
6. Speisen nicht unterkochen
7. Kühlen Sie Lebensmittel nicht lange vor der Kühlung
8. Spülen Sie rohes Hähnchen nicht in der Spüle ab
9. Verwenden Sie nicht ein Schneidebrett für alles
10. Essen Sie keinen rohen Keksteig

Dies scheint die naheliegendste Lebensmittelsicherheitspraxis zu sein . Aber wie wir in der Einleitung erklärt haben, machen sich die meisten Leute nicht die Mühe, dies zu tun. Und die Minderheit, die sich wäscht, tut es nicht richtig – was noch gefährlicher sein könnte, weil sie denken, dass sie sich und ihre Familien schützen, wenn sie es nicht sind [Quelle: Food Safety News ].

Glücklicherweise hat die CDC eine detaillierte Anleitung zum Händewaschen entwickelt , die auf wissenschaftlichen Studien basiert. Hier sind die Schritte:

Die Chancen stehen gut, dass Sie wahrscheinlich einen Bissen von etwas im Kühlschrank genommen haben , das nur ein winziges bisschen über dem Verfallsdatum liegt, um zu sehen, ob es sicher ist, den Rest davon zu essen. Wenn es gefährlich schlecht geworden ist, sollte es eklig schmecken, oder? Nicht unbedingt.

Nach Angaben des US-Landwirtschaftsministeriums gibt es zwei verschiedene Arten von Bakterien, die auf und in Ihre Lebensmittel gelangen. Die ersten, die als Verderbnisbakterien bezeichnet werden , können bei niedrigen Temperaturen wachsen, selbst im Kühlschrank, und sie lassen die Lebensmittel so schlecht aussehen und riechen, dass Sie sie nicht essen möchten. Seltsamerweise verursachen diese Keime jedoch normalerweise keine Krankheiten.

The ones you have to worry about are pathogenic bacteria, which typically don't alter the taste, smell or appearance of food [source: Zeratsky]. And it only takes a tiny amount of bacteria or another pathogen to make you seriously ill. Instead of a taste test, it's far safer to follow expiration dates on packages, and the federal government's safe storage times for the refrigerator and freezer, which you can find atFoodsafety.gov.

This probably seems like a recommendation from an obsessive clean-freak who keeps a lifetime supply of hand sanitizer on the kitchen counter, yet still insists upon handling everything with gloves. Why would you need to wash fruit or veggies if you're just going to peel off that nasty skin before you actually eat it? The problem is that when you cut away the unwashed skin and then use the same knife to cut up what's underneath, you actually may be spreading bacteria from the outside to the previously pristine inside [source: Foodsafety.gov].

To wash fruit and veggies properly, stick them under cold running tap water and rinse to remove any lingering dirt, which also reduces the amount of bacteria present. If it's a food item such as an apple or potato that has a firm surface, you can use a scrub brush. Then dry it off thoroughly [sources: USDA, Zander and Bunning].

Bagged vegetables that have been prewashed don't need to be washed again. In fact, you can contaminate the veggies further if your salad bowl or sink is not clean. If you do decide you want to wash bagged salads, wash your hands first for 20 seconds, as described on page 1. Also wash any cutting boards, dishes or salad spinners with hot water before using them for your raw vegetables [source: Foodsafety.gov].

Putting food in the refrigerator should hinder the growth of bacteria, because the enzyme systems that the microbes depend upon to multiply start to slow down when the temperature is reduced. But anything above freezing isn't going to stop bacterial growth completely [source: Brewer]. In fact, refrigerators themselves can easily turn into bacteria farms.

A study of 30 typical European fridges commissioned by Microban, a maker of antimicrobial products, found that some of them contained as many as 129,000 "bacterial colony forming units" per square centimeter [source: Chowdhury]. Positively disgusting, huh? Hopefully, you scrub your fridge out often enough that it's not that bad. But even so, it's not a good idea to leave food in there for too long.

One problem is determining exactly how long is too long, since the life of individual items varies. Raw hamburger , for example, can only be stored for one to two days, while egg salad, for example, is typically safe to eat for three to five days, and bacon and sausage for a week. An unopened package of lunchmeat is good for up to two weeks [source: Foodsafety.gov].

If you're in doubt about a particular food item, consult the website StillTasty.com, which has a database compiled from government shelf-life estimates.

Have you ever let a frozen chicken thaw on your kitchen counter overnight? Definitely not a good idea, experts say. Even if the core of the bird remains frozen, the meat closest to the surface will thaw out sooner, and bacteria will build up pretty rapidly at temperatures above 40 degrees F (4 degrees C).

That's why food safety experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend that you use one of the following four methods for thawing:

Whether we're cooking chicken or burgers, most of us go by sight, smell or taste to figure out when they're ready to eat. But your senses aren't necessarily reliable indicators. In the University of California-Davis study mentioned in the introduction, 40 percent of the subjects didn't cook chicken long enough to kill dangerous bacteria [source: Food Safety News].

The only way to ensure that you're cooking safely is to use a food thermometer to make sure that the meat reaches the necessary internal temperature. The latter can vary from food to food – from 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) for precooked ham to 165 degrees F (74 degrees C) for chicken legs [source: Home Food Safety].

Before using your thermometer, test it with ice water or boiling water to confirm that it gives an accurate reading. When it's time to actually use it, check the temperature of the meat while it's being heated in the skillet or on the grill. Be sure to pick the thickest part of the meat, and don't touch the bone, fat or gristle. And afterward, be sure to wash the thermometer with hot, soapy water [source: Home Food Safety].

It takes about two hours for illness-causing bacteria to grow on perishable food -- and just an hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees F (32 degrees C)[source: Foodsafety.gov]. So stick it in the fridge as soon as possible after cooking it.

There's no need to wait before foods cool down, even if they're really hot, because modern refrigerators are able to handle the strain. However, if you've got a really big item, like a turkey , you'll probably want to cut up the meat and store it in multiple small, flat containers so that it cools more quickly, before bacteria has a chance to develop. (For the same reason, remove the stuffing from the turkey and store it in a separate container.)

Make sure you seal everything, which reduces the chance of cross-contamination. And if you've got leftover canned food, transfer it to a container rather than storing it in an opened tin, because the metal on the rim can leach into the food and give it a metallic taste. Finally, don't stuff the refrigerator too full, because air needs to be able to circulate inside for the fridge to stay cool [sources: Humphreys, Fightbac.org].

You might be thinking that if it's critical to wash vegetables and fruit, then raw poultry ought to be washed, too. Hey, even superstar TV chef Julia Child used to do it. Not to mention an estimated 90 percent of Americans, according to research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But as Drexel University associate professor of nutrition sciences Jennifer Quinlan told NPR in 2013, washing chicken and turkey meat is a very bad idea. "There's no reason, from a scientific point of view, to think you're making it any safer and in fact, you're making it less safe," she said. Washing increases the chance that you'll spread the bacteria that's already on the carcass around your kitchen, so that other food may become contaminated with nasty pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter. These cause an estimated 1.9 million cases of food poisoning annually in the U.S.

If you want to kill off these dangerous bacteria, the surest way to do it is simply to stick the chicken in the oven or into a skillet and cook it to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F or 74 degrees C [source: Godoy].

If you use the same board for all your cutting, there's a chance that juices from raw meat could accidentally come in contact with other foods that aren't cooked, such as ingredients for salads. That sort of cross contamination could end up making you really, really, sick.

To avoid the problem, be sure to have two cutting boards in your kitchen. Use one for raw meat, poultry and seafood and the other for bread, vegetables that already have been washed, and other ready-to-eat foods. It's a good idea to pick boards that are different colors or shapes, so that you don't confuse them by accident.

After you've used your cutting boards, be sure to wash them in hot, soapy water. As an added precaution, use chlorine bleach or another disinfecting solution to clean the board that you use for meat, poultry and fish, and then rinse it with clean water. (If that sounds too complicated, you also can stick it in the dishwasher.) Remember that cutting boards aren't family heirlooms. Once one starts to develop cracks, crevices and knife scars, it's time to toss it and buy a new one [source: Home Food Safety].

Who hasn't peeked into the fridge, spied a container of cookie dough mix, and been tempted to stick a finger into it to get a little taste? Well, don't give in to the temptation, or else you may succumb to food poisoning as well.

We got some disturbing proof of this in 2009, when 77 people in 30 states got sick after eating a particular brand of packaged raw cookie dough, which turned out to be contaminated with E.coli. Thirty-five people had to be hospitalized, and eventually 3.5 million packages of the dough had to be recalled [sources: Mann, Neil et al.]. That's because raw cookie dough is designed to be baked before it is eaten, and isn't subjected to the same pathogen-eliminating manufacturing processes that ready-to-eat food gets.

"As tempting as it is to sample cookie dough, do not veer from the recommendations on the package," Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease doctor at North Shore University Long Island Jewish Hospital in Manhasset, New York, told WebMD. If you really, really like the idea of cookie dough, get yourself some cookie dough-flavored ice cream , which is completely safe [source: Jaslow].

Author's Note: 10 Most Overlooked Food Safety Guidelines

I've always been concerned about avoiding food poisoning, ever since a nasty bout of vomiting from some spoiled orange juice laid me low when I was a young bachelor. Even so, I was shocked to realize how many of these basic precautions I've been neglecting all these years.

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