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Personally, I think that there is too much hand wringing over food poisoning these days.
If you follow the basic rules of keeping the foods out of the danger zone (45-140F), wash your hands periodically, and avoid cross contamination between meats and fresh vegetables, you really have little chance of food poisoning.
Small amounts of e coli or salmonella will make you ill- the degree of illness will vary as to personal immunity, age and even size, but there is no need to become obsessive. You can not sterilize your hands.Washing hands thoroughly and often is a good practice to adopt If you are cooking your foods until they are done, especially ground meats you're probably going to be ok. Not all foods are contaminated in the first place.
Yes, it is possible. It really is so very important to be vigilant and constantly was your hands while cooking and of course, eating. Simple sanitation etiquette.
If your immune system is weak because you've spent your life paranoid about specks of bacteria and have scoured yourself with antibacterial soap and antibacterial hand-gunk every hour, and every time you touch food, and every time you are in a place that serves food, and every time a child who has consumed food comes within touching distance of you, and so on and so forth...
then yes, you can most certainly get sick from a "small amount" of bacteria.
However, if you, like I, grew up playing in dirt, sometimes eating bugs, chewing on grass that a dog -might- have actually peed on some time within the last 48 hours, getting papercuts without immediately dousing our fingers with rubbing alcohol, getting scrapes and scratches from running through the woods without a care in the world...all before "antibacterial wipes" were marketed outside of hospitals...
then it's very unlikely you will get sick from "small quantities" of bacteria. You could probably even swallow an apple seed and not worry about cyanide poisoning.
adding: when I make ceasar salad, I use a raw egg. I have never gotten food poisoning from my own cooking.
when I make meatballs with ground chuck every Monday, I take a few pinches of raw meat for myself, and give a few pinches to my cat. Neither of us have ever gotten food poisoning from our weekly treat.
(I did get food poisoning once, from eating a bad shrimp at Red Lobster. I still eat shrimp, and I don't rinse it in shrimp sanitizer before consuming it)
Excellent post!!!
anyone paranoid...read this twice!!!
I went to school in a mix of farm country and "city folks"
farm country kids,,,wore the dungarees. rugged, hearty kids , were not squeamish.. and were very rarely sick...while the "city" kids seem to be the ones with allergies and sick a lot
my grandfather had a farm,,,,and visiting the farm,,everything seem to smell of cow manure,,,,,the garden was filled with it,,,,,when it rained,,,the splash went all over the veggies,,
we use to shovel the manure out of the barn.. and yes you would get it on you....just a way of life
my point being,,,,...you would think the folks being around e coli would get lots of food poisoning,,,- its on all types of surfaces..
my grandfather would go down in his basement and slice off some cow steaks ,,,, a side was hanging down there,,and wasn't nearly cold enough to be "safe" but
I believe this.....
if you are too clean and don't build up a strong immunity against ,,,many germs...you are more succeptible
what are vaccinations?? the way a body produces anti-bodies , to ward off the real thing..
again,,, if you aren't building up a strong immunity.....you are easily succeptible
ive worked around raw meat all my adult life,,, tho im trained in food safety,,,
sometimes I do make mistakes at home,,,with surfaces,,,but just keep some simple guidelines,,
be careful of raw meats- especially poultry,,, (my grandparents use to eat raw burger in their 80's)
cook meat to these temps and you will have nothing to worry about
burger to 160
beef. pork and lamb to 145
poultry (chicken and turkey) to 165
wear some plastic gloves if you are a germaphobe
no need to be paranoid,,,if you woke in the morning and are afraid of "anything that could" happen....you'd never get out of bed
the only thing you have to fear,,is fear itself!
Personally, I think that there is too much hand wringing over food poisoning these days.
If you follow the basic rules of keeping the foods out of the danger zone (45-140F), wash your hands periodically, and avoid cross contamination between meats and fresh vegetables, you really have little chance of food poisoning.
great post!!
between the health food Nazi's and the food safety Nazi's ....they do a good job alarming the public,,
its healthy t0 have some food handling basics and concern,,,,,but you can take it too far,,,
I have a neighbor that wont let her son have a bike,,,,because thousands of kids get hurt on bikes every week,,
I asked her if she was going to allow him to get a drivers license,,,she said NO ,,not while he is living at home..
What is the theoretical risk in getting sick from these practices?
The largest factor in the risk is your own immune system, which depends on how many pathogens your body has already been exposed to, and thus created a resisance to. I never get sick, because I'm very slack about washing my hands or cooking utensils or dinner plates and I eat out of dumpsters without hesitation. I have a five-year rule about eating what is dropped on the floor or in a parking lot. I'm immune to almost everything. A fastidiously clean person would be sick within a day or two, eating with me at my house.
It was from directly eating food...Health Dept calls you back in 2 weeks
and confirms that, btw.
I never have from my kitchen or touching the ketchup at a restaurant and then
eating fries with the same hand...it's a wonder, I know....a bad habit, this touching
of things at a restaurant....so far so good.
I'd like to think my immune system is a great one!
Good topic.
If your immune system is weak because you've spent your life paranoid about specks of bacteria and have scoured yourself with antibacterial soap and antibacterial hand-gunk every hour, and every time you touch food, and every time you are in a place that serves food, and every time a child who has consumed food comes within touching distance of you, and so on and so forth...
then yes, you can most certainly get sick from a "small amount" of bacteria.
However, if you, like I, grew up playing in dirt, sometimes eating bugs, chewing on grass that a dog -might- have actually peed on some time within the last 48 hours, getting papercuts without immediately dousing our fingers with rubbing alcohol, getting scrapes and scratches from running through the woods without a care in the world...all before "antibacterial wipes" were marketed outside of hospitals...
then it's very unlikely you will get sick from "small quantities" of bacteria. You could probably even swallow an apple seed and not worry about cyanide poisoning.
adding: when I make ceasar salad, I use a raw egg. I have never gotten food poisoning from my own cooking.
when I make meatballs with ground chuck every Monday, I take a few pinches of raw meat for myself, and give a few pinches to my cat. Neither of us have ever gotten food poisoning from our weekly treat.
(I did get food poisoning once, from eating a bad shrimp at Red Lobster. I still eat shrimp, and I don't rinse it in shrimp sanitizer before consuming it)
Standing ovation!!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01
Personally, I think that there is too much hand wringing over food poisoning these days.
If you follow the basic rules of keeping the foods out of the danger zone (45-140F), wash your hands periodically, and avoid cross contamination between meats and fresh vegetables, you really have little chance of food poisoning.
I think it depends on your body and how your immune system works. It's definitely not the same as everyone else. No two bodies will react in the same way. I guess that's why some medicines will work better for some people and not for others (can cause many side effects or different ones).
Maybe there could be a protective barrier depending on what you ate and drank (or didn't) previous to your ingestion of a particular bacteria?
My husband and I shared a cheeseburger from an outside stand. I wanted the one that they were currently grilling but they said that they already some wrapped and ready to go. Guess hubby in a hurry that day to get somewhere else, prompted me for the "let's go already", so we had the wrapped burger.
No problem until only a few hours after we got home that night. Did I ever get sick. Him, not even once.
Without getting into specifics, I really do not think that hamburger was cooked throughly. Some states have regulations that meat, such as hamburgers be cooked at medium. This regulation even if in the state, may not include private or semi-private events like cookouts. Not sure how that works. One thing for sure, I don't think I ever want to repeat that experience.
If your immune system is weak because you've spent your life paranoid about specks of bacteria and have scoured yourself with antibacterial soap and antibacterial hand-gunk every hour, and every time you touch food, and every time you are in a place that serves food, and every time a child who has consumed food comes within touching distance of you, and so on and so forth...
then yes, you can most certainly get sick from a "small amount" of bacteria.
However, if you, like I, grew up playing in dirt, sometimes eating bugs, chewing on grass that a dog -might- have actually peed on some time within the last 48 hours, getting papercuts without immediately dousing our fingers with rubbing alcohol, getting scrapes and scratches from running through the woods without a care in the world...all before "antibacterial wipes" were marketed outside of hospitals...
then it's very unlikely you will get sick from "small quantities" of bacteria. You could probably even swallow an apple seed and not worry about cyanide poisoning.
adding: when I make ceasar salad, I use a raw egg. I have never gotten food poisoning from my own cooking.
when I make meatballs with ground chuck every Monday, I take a few pinches of raw meat for myself, and give a few pinches to my cat. Neither of us have ever gotten food poisoning from our weekly treat.
(I did get food poisoning once, from eating a bad shrimp at Red Lobster. I still eat shrimp, and I don't rinse it in shrimp sanitizer before consuming it)
Agreed 100%. There is a growing consensus that the increase in food allergies may be attributable to the 'sterile' environment we have created.
We're clean, but not scrub the place with bleach clean. I home butcher and use a hard maple block, a BIG one. I hardly ever, and mean EVER use bleach on it. Warm soapy water then I oil it with mineral oil. I've used it for over 15 years- we cut veggies, meats, cheeses, bread dough's etc.. Not one of my family or friends has ever been sick. Ever.
Course I grew up with parents right from the farm..
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