Salad recall and food borne illness

If you've seen the news lately, you have probably noticed there is another bagged lettuce recall. This recall has not affected us here in Missouri, but has affected people in six states. The lettuce recall is due to a sample testing positive for listeria. The last Dole salad recall was due to salmonella.

For more information about this recall, you can check the FDA's website for their press release.

How can you keep you and your family safe in this era of food recalls and food borne illness outbreaks? What is the difference between the various food borne illness?

1. You can sign up for FDA recalls on their website. They are emailed to you or you can view them online.
2. Sometimes the food being recalled has already been eaten or past the "use by" date when it's recalled. In that case, there is really nothing you can do.
3. If you are buying bagged lettuce or bagged produce with a stamp that says "pre-washed" or "triple-washed" or indicates that it does not need to be washed before eating, then you don't need to. Cleaning it at home will not remove any more bacteria and actually may even contaminate it more if your sink and surfaces are not clean. You cannot wash salmonella or listeria off produce either.
4. Wash produce before consuming. This means the outside of all produce, including melons and bananas, even if you don't eat the peel. You may need to scrub the outside. The outside can have bacteria that can contaminate the inside if not washed first. After cutting up fruit, it needs to be stored in the refrigerator for safety, do not leave out longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour when the temperature is above 90 degrees).
5. Bleach, a bleach solution, or a produce wash is not needed to safely clean the outside of produce. Some restaurants may use this technique, but is not recommended by FDA.
6. If you are pregnant, be extra careful with what you are eating. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely to contract listeria.

In 2011, there was a listeria outbreak due to contaminated melons. Unlike other bacteria, listeria can grow in the refrigerator. Listeria is also known to contaminate ready-to-eat foods, such as deli meat, hot dogs, smoked seafood, and store-made deli salads. Foods that have unpasteurized milk are also culprits. Listeria can grow and contaminate other foods in the refrigerator. Keeping your refrigerator at 40 degrees or below helps keep listeria from growing rapidly. Keep your refrigerators clean, sinks and surfaces clean, and wash your hands. Foodsafety.gov has more about listeria on their website.

Reptiles (turtles, snakes, etc) and baby chicks carry salmonella on them and we normally think of eggs and chicken as salmonella culprits. Other sources include unpasteurized milk and juice and contaminated produce. To prevent salmonella, cook all meat and eggs to the proper temperature and do not consume unpasteurized milk. Keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot, keep your sinks and surfaces clean, separate raw foods from ready-to-eat or cooked foods, and wash your hands. Children who play with turtles, frogs, etc especially need to wash their hands afterward. Get leftovers into the fridge within 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature is above 90 degrees). Foodsafety.gov has more about salmonella on their website.  

E. coli lives intestines of humans and animals. There are many different strains and most do not affect us. E. coli O157:H7 is the most harmful and the one we hear about when people have food borne illness from E. coli. Undercooked meat, unpasteurized milk, sprouts, contaminated water, and some farm animals are sources of E. coli. To prevent E. coli, the suggestions are similar as the ones above - cook properly, chill properly, clean surfaces and hands, and keep foods separate. Wash hands after contact with farm animals as well. For more on E. coli, you can look at Foodsafety.gov.

Norovirus, campylobacter are two other types of food borne illness, as well as a few others. You can read more about them and how to keep you and your family safe at the foodsafety.gov website.

Create your own cookbook and Cook it Quick newsletter

The SNAP-Ed Connection’s Recipe Finder now has a way for your to browse and create your own cookbook. There are more than 600 low-cost and healthy recipes. You can add as many or as few as you would like, personalize the cookbook, and then save to a .pdf file for downloading or printing. What a great resource for personal use or to share with others who may be interested!

 The June issue of the Cook it Quick newsletter is hot off the press. The Cook it Quick newsletter is produced by University of Nebraska - Lincoln Extension monthly. Here are some features from this issue:

• Baked kale chips
• Spinach lasagna
• Strawberry smoothie
• Fast way to freeze peppers
• Couscous salad
• Salsa bean salad
• Fast way to freeze raw onions
• And more!

You can subscribe to the Cook it Quick newsletter by clicking the link that says subscribe at the top of the newsletter page.

National Center for Home Food Preservation

The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) is your one-stop shop for all information on canning, freezing, drying, pickling, and more! The NCHFP is part of the University of Georgia Extension and is considered to be the expert organization on food preservation. All of the information is research-based and reliable. Their publication, So Easy to Preserve, comes in handy for all of those who will be preserving food this summer.

Here are just a few of the resources on the NCHFP website:

• Multimedia videos on a variety of canning topics
• Preserving food at home: A self-study online course
• Uncooked berry freezer jam (easy and does not need processing if stored in refrigerator or freezer, a good recipe for beginners)
• Instructions for freezing a variety of different fruits and veggies
• General canning information
• Drying fruits, vegetables, herbs, jerky, etc.
• Food storage (cupboard, refrigerator, freezer, and storing other foods at home)

You can find much more information on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website. 

Dairy month

June is Dairy Month.

The Dairy group includes foods like milk, cheese, yogurt, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, pudding made with milk, and ice cream. 

Can't tolerate milk because of lactose intolerance? Try lactose-free milk, soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk. Make sure they are fortified with calcium or a calcium supplement may be necessary because some of the other type of milk have less calcium. Try small amount of cheese or yogurt to get some of the calcium you need.

Can have milk because of an allergy? Try soy milk, almond milk, or rice milk. Make sure they are fortified with calcium or a calcium supplement may be necessary because some of the other milks have less calcium. An allergy is different than lactose intolerance because those with allergies cannot usually tolerate a small amount, like those with lactose intolerance. You may need to eat other foods with calcium (such as spinach) or increase calcium-fortified foods (such as orange juice).

Calcium amounts:

• 1 cup of milk has about 300 mg of calcium
• 1.5 ounces, 1/3 cup shredded, or 2 slices of cheese has between 200-450 mg of calcium
• 1 cup of yogurt has between 275 and 450 mg of calcium
• 1/2 cup of frozen yogurt or ice cream has between 70 and 100 mg of calcium
• 1 cup of spinach has about 240 mg of calcium
•  1 cup of cottage cheese has about 130 mg of calcium
• 1 cup of broccoli has about 180 mg of calcium
• 8 ounces of calcium-fortified orange juice has about 300 mg of calcium
• 1 cup of pinto, white, or garbanzo beans has about 75 mg of calcium
• Calcium-fortified cereals may have 250 or more mg of calcium
• Calcium-fortified bread may have 150 or more mg of calcium
• Mackerel, salmon with bones, or sardines may have 200 or more mg of calcium
• Some types of instant oatmeal may have 100+ mg of calcium

If you aren't sure of the calcium amounts in other foods, calcium is listed on the food label. To find out how many milligrams, add one zero to the end of the percentage listed for that serving. For instance, if a food has 15% of the DV for calcium, it has about 150 milligrams.

 Vitamin D is important to help the body absorb calcium, so make sure you are combining the two when you eat or if you take a supplement. 

Calcium is the most common mineral in the body, with about 99% in bones and teeth. Calcium recommendations are:

•  Infants:  200 - 260 mg/daily
• Children age 1-2: 700 mg/daily
• Children age 4-8: 1,000 mg/daily
• Children age 9-13: 1,300 mg/daily
• Adolescents age 14-18: 1,300 mg/daily
• Adults age 19-70: 1,000 mg/daily
• Adults age 71+: 1,200 mg/daily
• Pregnant/breastfeeding teens age 14-18: 1,300 mg/daily
• Pregnant/breastfeeding adults age 19+: 1,000 mg/daily

There are no differences in the recommendations for men and women, the recommendations only vary by age.

For more information about the dairy group, check out the MyPlate Dairy group webpage.