Another food safety crisis: contaminated peanuts, contaminated vegetables, contaminated eggs, turkey and hamburger.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million people are sickened each year from contaminated foods in the USA and 5,000 people die. What are the high?risk foods and what can we do to avoid becoming another statistic?

High?risk foods
Many of the healthiest foods are also the most likely candidates when it comes to food contamination. For example, raw fruits and vegetables are grown in dirt filled with bacteria. They are handled by multiple people throughout the food production process and then they sit in the open air where heat, moisture and natural sugars combine to make the perfect breeding ground for contamination pathogens to grow.

Here is a list of the top 10 offenders according to “Everyday Health”:

1. Spinach and other leafy green vegetables
2. Eggs
3. Tuna
4. Raw oysters
5. Potatoes
6. Soft cheese
7. Ice cream
8. Tomatoes
9. Sprouts
10. Berries

Many of the healthy foods can be made safe with just a little effort and proper handling. However, tuna, raw oysters, soft cheese and ice cream will always be risky because of the nature of the food and the way it is served.

Proper food handling
According to several scholarly articles from such prestigious food science institutes as the University of Minnesota, Colorado State University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food handling is the key to food safety. Follow these recommendations to reduce your risk of contaminated food:

• Keep your kitchen countertops, refrigerator, cookware and cutlery clean.
• Wash your hands before preparing meals.
• Keep fresh foods away from uncooked meats to avoid cross-contamination.
• Avoid bruised, moldy and mushy fruits and vegetables.
• Wash fruits and vegetables ? even “pre?washed” packed produce ? just before you eat them.
• Also wash the parts you don’t eat (peel, rind, etc.).
• Gently rub fruits and vegetables under running water. Don’t use any soaps, detergents, bleaches or other toxic cleaning chemicals.
• Scrub firmer fruits and vegetables (such as potatoes) with a vegetable brush under running water.
• Remove and discard the outer leaves of lettuce and cabbage heads, and thoroughly rinse the rest of the leaves.
• Rinse berries and other small fruits thoroughly and allow them to drain in a colander.

Certainly, using just a little caution can help you avoid being one of the statistics; simply washing your fruits and vegetables may save your life!

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