Love that Microwave and Fast Food!!!!
by Mary Wagoner
January 16, 2008
Most people know to check the Thanksgiving Turkey Temperature, since we hear all the time about the dangers of a stuffed turkey. But a microwave able pizza, potpie, TV dinner?
ConAgra Foods, which is a large producer of frozen prepared food items, has been recalling frozen produces at a cost of over $30 million. The reason: over 275 illnesses in 35 states causes by improper heating. They are pulling products and rewriting the instructions. Instead of saying Microwave on high for 4 minutes it will say heat on high until it reaches 165 degrees. How may of you have heated a “Kid Cuisine” or a “Healthy Choice”? Did you heat it until it was bubbling hot and then have to cool it off to feed it to the kids or did you just heat it until just hot enough to eat? This is why people are getting sick. You need to cook prepared foods as if they were raw foods. For example the meat in a chicken potpie has been cooked but the other ingredients are raw, such as flour, which can contain salmonella. Every kitchen needs to have a meat thermometer in it. They can be purchased at most grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Every person in the home needs to know how to use it.
How many students get home from school and pop something in the
microwave? Do you check to see they are cooking the item as per
instructions? General Mills recalled 5 million frozen Totino’s and
Jeno’s pizzas in November because of potential E.coli 0157:H7
contamination, plans new pizza packaging that will say: “Do not
Microwave.” Pre-recall, it said, “Microwave preparation not
recommended.” No contamination was found in pizza.
Lytle ISD Food Service Department has procedures that each cook
must follow to meet USDA regulations. We have to collect the
manufactures cooking instructions on all processed food items. We
follow the instructions then check the inside temperature of the
item, write down the time the temp was taken and the inside
temperature on our productions sheets. These records are inspected
by the auditors and have to be kept for 7 years. We also keep a
complete tray of everything we serve for the day at each campus.
The day of the week and the date is put on the tray and it is kept
for one week.
Leftovers!!!!!!!
Nothing should be left out over 2 hours. I can remember when mother
would cook Sunday Lunch after church and the leftovers would be
left on the stove all day so we could go by the stove and grab
something to eat. So times you heated it and sometimes you just ate
it like it was. My favorite was fried chicken. I do not know if our
systems are changing and we are loosing our immunities, the food
products are contaminated, or we thought we had the flu when in
fact we had salmonella.
Hot foods should be refrigerated as soon as possible within two
hours after cooking. Cold foods should be kept at 40 degrees in the
refrigerator. But don't keep the food if it's been standing out for
more than two hours. Don't taste test it, either. Even a small
amount of contaminated food can cause illness. Date leftovers so
they can be used within a safe time. Generally, they remain safe
when refrigerated for three to five days. “If in doubt, throw it
out”, says FDA microbiologist Kelly Bunning, Ph.D., associate
senior science adviser in CFSAN: "It's not worth a food borne
illness for the small amount of food usually involved."
Food safety and sanitation is an important public health
concern. In the United States, it is estimated that 76 million
illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths are
attributed to food borne illness each year. The annual cost of food
borne illness is estimated to be from $10 to $83 billion (1). For
some individuals, food borne illness may result in a mild,
temporary discomfort. Because children are a highly susceptible
population, food borne illness may have serious or long-term
consequences, and may be life threatening.
Remember two things:
1) “Follow instructions and cook to 165 degrees”
AND
2) “When in doubt throw it out”.
