Make sure the climax to your next meal isn't an upset stomach
In the BBC-3 series "Climaxed," miniepisodes explore hit-and-miss relationships between people after they have sex. One four-minute taste of Sam 'n' Ella reveals a sure way to taint an intimate occasion: Clueless guy Sam plays a video game immediately after rolling over.
Well, Salmonella is another way to poison yourself and your near-and-dear. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had to investigate Kellogg's Honey Smacks cereal, pre-cut melon, eggs in a shell, dried coconut, chicken salad, Kratom, raw sprouts and frozen shredded coconut for widespread illness and even death because of Salmonella contamination.
But as frightening as that sounds, the main cause of post-meal bellyaches (and worse) for the 48 million Americans who experience a food-borne illness every year is the way they handle food preparation!
U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists did an observational study and found that most tummy-turning germs such as Salmonella are spread from raw meat (turkey burger, in this case) to salad, refrigerator handles and even spice containers, because almost no one washes his or her hands! Out of the more than 1,200 opportunities to wash hands that the researchers observed, people used the effective germ-removing technique only 3 percent of the time!
So, if you don't want the climax of your next home-cooked meal to be widespread nausea, lather up for 20 seconds after you touch raw foods (meats and eggs especially), getting the backs of your hands, between fingers and under nails too; and use a meat thermometer to verify meat has reached a safe-to-eat doneness (info at USDA.gov).
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Read more http://cdn.kingfeatures.com/rss/feed/editorial/index.php?content=YouDocTips_20180724