Eating out and E. Coli versus playing it safe and cooking at home (cider, ingredient)
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It's not just eColi to be concerned about. People need to get the Hepatitis A Vaccine if they like to eat in restaurants, not to mention food trucks, county fairs, theme parks, and cruises. It's endemic in many other countries, and people can carry it because they grew up with it and are immune. So immigrants who work in food preparation can transmit it.
It's primarily spread by poor handwashing after toileting (an unwatched activity), or from some shellfish. It can take you down for a month.
I do get concerned about the peanut butter and keep an ear open for any recalls. They seem to get recalled quite a bit. Do you have any recommendations with the nut butters, brands, etc?
Most grocery stores will carry almond butter, those will be free of e.coli. I either A) make my own with a slight addition of coconut oil and slightly roasted almonds in my vitamix, or B) grind some at Whole Foods. You can make any type of nut butter you want with a vitamix, simply add in the nuts and a little bit of oil and let it rip. There are plenty of other recipes online for making your own as well.
Many grocery stores will also carry sunflower seed butter, they are pretty decent and are really healthy as a peanut alternative (no e.coli scares either).
miss good point,,, one outbreak can close a business
most restaurants have a haccp program- a formalized thorough sanitation program/procedures
and most employees have to go thru extensive sanitation training
I use to give sanitation seminars for foodservice employees
the usda inspectors and fsis have very strict guidelines
in some states I think you can look up recent health/sanitation inspections on restaurants
Remember Chi Chi's restaurant chain? In 2003 or 2004 the largest outbreak of hepatitis A in the United States ever. 4 people died and over 650 people sick. It was traced to scallions in the salsa.
Trader Joe's just had a recall on almond butter due to salmonella. E. coli isn't the only thing you have to worry about.
Good information, it seems the companies that are issuing recalls on almond butters are due to being processed in the same warehouse as e.coli laced peanut butter.
Best to make your own IMO, toast/roast those nuts to a certain temp and then go from there.
Uncooked and improperly cooked foods are always the highest risk foods for any type of food poisoning, both at home and eating out. Avoiding those as best you can will help a lot. The most common cause of food poisoning is cross contamination - basically handling something like raw chicken and then mixing up a raw salad without washing your hands. The second most common is improper processing of food at the industrial level - bad sanitary practices by employees, equipment not being cleaned, contaminated meat being brought in, etc. The vast majority of these problems are easily fixed by following good practices in the kitchen, and even if they aren't - you're 6 or 7 times more likely to get killed in a car accident on the way to the restaurant than you are be killed by what you eat (and more than 10 times as likely to suffer serious injury).
No, not one bit paranoid. I have eaten at places all over the world, places without any resemblance to "western" style health codes, inspections, etc.
I think the whole food sickness though real, is very overstated. It is obvious that it does happen, should be watched out for and prevented, but I would never curtail eating out because of it, that is just an irrational fear. You can just as likely get food sickness from your home cooked meals, an established chain restaurant, individual owned place to eat, etc.
Is anyone paranoid about eating out? I'm particular about how my food is cooked to taste, but I feel that the standards are being lowered or that restaurants are so overwhelmed that they may overlook cleanliness.
I am!
I MUCH prefer to cook my own food. Healthier, cheaper and most of all - SAFER!
My daughter contracted severe food poisoning and ended up in the ER. The doctor looked at her and said, "Chinese food?"
She slowly shook her head.
"Sunday dinner at the church!?"
No.
"Fast food?"
Yup.
It was the Chick-Filet salad.
Ever since then, I've been ever more cautious about eating out.
We eat out a couple of times a week. Except when we're on vacation, we eat out all the time then. When we go on vacation we feel that we are getting away from the everyday chores and don't want to be cooking meals.
As other posters pointed out, you can prepare your food at home and still get food poisoning.
My husband says that most restaurants know that if they kept poisoning people, people won't eat there anymore. So, most owners know that it is in their best interests to keep the place clean and properly store perishable and non-perishable food.
Sometimes, upon entering a restaurant, you can get an immediate feel as to how clean it is. If the front of the house is filthy, it's safe to assume that the back of the house is also. If the place smells bad, then don't eat there. Obviously, if you see insects or rodents turn right around and leave. Too many people ignore basic warning signs and still eat in questionable places.
You can certainly control sanitation in your own kitchen but you have no guarantee that workers in a restaurant are washing their hands, etc.
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