Keeping You and Your Family Safe This Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is a time for coming together with family and friends and being mindful of the good things in our lives. With the cornucopia of food that is often involved, it can also be a time for food-borne illness, which can certainly put a damper on any post-meal activities.

Christopher Daniel, a student and intern in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, offers some advice on staying safe in this article for the Healthy Turtle:

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Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of diseases and health-related states in human populations. One major focus of epidemiology is infectious disease, including foodborne illness. State and local epidemiologists are tasked to document, monitor, and prevent the spread of foodborne illness. As we all get ready for the holiday season and the delicious, home-cooked meals we are about to enjoy, here are some reminders to keep in mind to make sure we stay healthy:

Heat. Cook meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly. Using a thermometer to measure the internal temperature of meat is a good way to be sure that it is cooked sufficiently to kill bacteria (ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 F).

Separate. Don't cross-contaminate one food with another. Avoid cross-contaminating foods by washing hands, utensils, and cutting boards after they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry and before they touch another food. Put cooked meat on a clean platter, rather back on one that held the raw meat.

Chill. Refrigerate leftovers promptly. Bacteria can grow quickly at room temperature, so refrigerate leftover foods if they are not going to be eaten within 4 hours.

Clean. Wash produce. Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables in running tap water to remove visible dirt and grime. Remove and discard the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage. Because bacteria can grow well on the cut surface of fruit or vegetable, be careful not to contaminate these foods while slicing them up on the cutting board, and avoid leaving cut produce at room temperature for many hours. Wash your hands with soap and water before preparing food. Avoid preparing food for others if you yourself have a diarrheal illness.

Keep Watch. Report suspected foodborne illnesses to your local health department. The local public health department is an important part of the food safety system. Often calls from concerned citizens are how outbreaks are first detected. If a public health official contacts you to find our more about an illness you had, your cooperation is important. In public health investigations, it can be as important to talk to healthy people as to ill people.

For more information about foodborne illness prevention education, visit Fight Bac at http://www.fightbac.org/. Fight Bac is a non-profit educational organization that focuses on improving public health through consumer food safety initiatives. Also visit the “Keep the Holidays Happy” section in order to find more information dealing specifically with winter food topics. You can find the site at http://www.fightbac.org/content/view/88/10/.

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Christopher Daniel is a Bachelor's of Science student and an intern in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. If you would like to submit an article just as Christopher has, email [rmcmahon at umd dot edu] for more information. The image of the turkey is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.