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#GeekingOutSeries/Safety101/ExpellarmusPathogenus/1

This post is part of the Geeking Out series from Cooking Subversive which presents data-driven information on food and farming, safety in the kitchen, practical science for cooks, cooking techniques and processes and other relevant nerdy stuff that every cook should know.\\xa0 For the next few weeks, we will be covering topics from the chapter, Safety 101.

As a music educator, I tell my students I always like to start at the beginning. Students come to me with varying degrees of knowledge \\u2013 they may have taken lessons before, or have music as a subject in school; others come with zero knowledge. But often times with students who already have had some prior music instruction, I find that they have a patchwork understanding of music, which is understandable, since everyone consumes information in a variety of ways.

It\\u2019s the same with cooking.\\xa0 Many forget that the process of cookery can sometimes be dangerous--the possibility of food poisoning, kitchen fires and knife accidents abound. \\xa0More insidiously, our health has gradually deteriorated with the prevalence of unhealthy food and food products laden with toxic chemicals and additives. There is also much confusion on our understanding of what healthy food is and what makes for good nutrition.

Many of you during the pandemic have tried your hand at cooking and not only managed to survive it (presumably along with the rest of your household) but produced edible, if not scrumptious fare. Well, congratulations, that\\u2019s an excellent start!\\xa0 Because I am rooting for your continued success and to make sure that surviving cooking is not entirely due to sheer good fortune (though divine providence has certainly helped me survive a few fiascos), \\xa0I will take a page from Maria in The Sound of Music when she sings, \\xa0\\u201cLet\\u2019s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.\\u201d\\xa0 And a great place to start is Safety 101\\u2014what we need to know to keep the cooking process safe for us and our loved ones. \\xa0While I can\\u2019t promise you\\u2019ll never draw blood, if we can keep it to a few cuts and scrapes here and there, or mild tummy problems, then we\\u2019re good.\\xa0 Mistakes are normal and critical to learning. The information we cover in Safety 101 will hopefully keep them from being dangerous.

This post is the first of two parts on \\u201cExpellarmus Pathogenus!\\u201d Understanding Pathogens.

\\u201cExpellarmus Pathogenus!\\u201d Understanding Pathogens (part 1)

One hot summer day many years ago, a friend decided to grill some chicken.\\xa0 She brought the raw chicken breasts marinating in their Styrofoam packaging to the heated grill and plopped them in. Minutes later, I realized she had forgotten to bring a platter for the cooked chicken, so I grabbed one to bring to her. \\xa0\\u201cHey, you forgot to take a platter with you!\\u201d \\xa0I called out as I approached. \\u201cOh thanks,\\u201d she replied, \\u201cbut I already have one.\\xa0 I\\u2019m just going to put the chicken back in its container.\\u201d

If nothing struck you as amiss in this exchange, then this post was written especially for you.\\xa0 Because my friend, an otherwise intelligent adult in her forties, was about to make a cardinal food handling error, one that could make her (and all those she fed) very sick, or worse.\\xa0 Since then, I have not taken for granted that even if it\\u2019s the 21st century and most of us have learned about bacteria and other microorganisms in elementary biology, its practical and most importantly, safety implications, might not be fully understood.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 \\xa0

The Federal government estimates about 1 in 6 Americans get food poisoning every year from eating contaminated food.\\xa0 That\\u2019s 48 million cases, according to the FoodSafety.gov site, a gateway for food safety information provided by government agencies.\\xa0\\xa0 Much of this has to do with improper food handling, which means most can easily be avoided just by understanding how pathogens work and implementing basic safety practices.

Here\\u2019s an overview on Bacteria and Pathogens.

Most bacteria are good and necessary for healthy living. We\\u2019ll cover the good when we talk about Microbiome basics later on.\\xa0 In this post, we\\u2019re concerned about pathogens-- the few bad bacteria, as well as virus and other microorganisms that cause disease. \\xa0Yes, the coronavirus disease 2019, or covid-19 for short, is one such pathogen that we\\u2019ve been forced to become familiar with.\\xa0 However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with COVID-19.

While covid-19 may not reside in food, the respiratory droplets that contain the virus may spread through cross-contamination: \\xa0people touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their eyes for example, which is why the CDC also advises not to share food or utensils when gathering with people from different households.

Since I originally wrote this article before the pandemic, I mulled over whether to edit out some of the basic guidelines, for example, the importance of hand washing, since it was among the first imperatives given by the CDC to combat the coronavirus spread.\\xa0 It seems like everyone knows this already, right?\\xa0 But pathogens are here to stay and when covid-19 becomes a distant memory (one hopes), this imperative will still be as important and should not be forgotten. \\xa0So I\\u2019ve decided to keep the guidelines as is. \\xa0\\xa0Since covid-19 is not known to be food-borne, I will limit the scope of this article to understanding how common pathogens work and how they can make us sick within the cookery context. \\xa0Though covid-19\\u2019s been getting the spotlight, these bad boys are always around just waiting to wreak havoc on the novice cook. \\xa0You may have heard of some of them like e. coli and salmonella.

Pathogens are everywhere.\\xa0 They\\u2019re in your bathroom; on your pets, everything Aunt Liz sneezed on.\\xa0 Your kids bring them home from school; so do your shoes\\u2014imagine where they\\u2019ve been (a public restroom, dog poo). \\xa0The organic soil your lettuce grows in has it; those free bar nuts?\\xa0 Practically Petri dishes from every hand that\\u2019s scooped out a nut or two (if it wasn\\u2019t cool pre-covid, it\\u2019s certainly not cool today). \\xa0Fruits, vegetables, eggs have it. Raw meat and poultry have lots of it.\\xa0 Especially if they were raised in close confinement such as in animal feed lots where they are so crammed they\\u2019re practically immersed in a cesspool of feces, which of course, has lots of pathogens. \\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

But while bad bugs are everywhere, we don\\u2019t always get sick from them.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a testament to our immune systems that most of us are not as sick as we could be.\\xa0 The valiant soldiers of a healthy immune system can duke it out with many pathogens and come out victorious.\\xa0 But if you don\\u2019t have sanitary and hygienic practices, you\\u2019ve just stacked the odds against them.\\xa0 Big time.

So let\\u2019s talk Hygiene and Sanitation.\\xa0

And start with: \\xa0\\xa0Wash your hands

ALL EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS BEFORE RETURNING TO WORK

Yes, you\\u2019ve seen these signs posted in most every restaurant restroom in the United States.\\xa0 The thought often comes to mind, really, a reminder is needed? For someone like me growing up in a family that was borderline germ phobic (my father disliked shaking hands; my sisters and I wouldn\\u2019t touch doorknobs in public restrooms), I take it for granted that washing hands is common knowledge and practice. But as I\\u2019ve learned, common knowledge \\xa0really isn\\u2019t always that common, and certainly does not translate to common practice.

According to the CDC\\u2019s observations, \\xa0food workers in restaurants only wash their hands a third of the time they\\u2019re supposed to.\\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0

In one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, \\u201cThe Pie,\\u201d Jerry is in the restaurant restroom with Poppie the chef and is shocked when the latter doesn\\u2019t wash his hands after exiting the stall. \\xa0This drives Jerry nuts and he refuses to eat the pizza Poppie serves.\\xa0 It would drive me crazy too.\\xa0 This is the sort of thing that makes people sick, which is what happens to some of the restaurant patrons in the episode.\\xa0 And really, it\\u2019s just gross. \\xa0I think all signs should be revised to read like the one I came across a few months ago at a New York restroom:

\\xa0EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS\\u2026AND SO SHOULD YOU

Handling raw foodRaw meat and poultry, even if pasture-raised and organic, are full of pathogens. Many of these, especially the notorious salmonella and e coli, can get you sick. Or worse. \\xa0Seafood and eggs can have them too. Always wash your hands when handling raw meats, poultry, seafood and eggs with soap and water.\\xa0 Wash all tools and implements like knives, cutting boards, containers and clean all surfaces like countertops and sink that were in contact with either soap and water or a disinfecting (natural/biodegradable) agent.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Washing meat, poultry, seafood, eggs

WASHING WILL NOT REMOVE MOST BACTERIA AND OTHER PATHOGENS

The CDC and many experts agree that you should not wash raw meat, poultry (and I will add) seafood and eggs, because the water splash may cause bacteria to spread, otherwise known as cross contamination.\\xa0 With that in mind, I will admit that I often wash raw meat and poultry, not to remove bacteria, but to remove other unwanted residues like packaging material, bone, feathers, coagulated blood or excess salt from brining.\\xa0 But I am also fanatical about cleaning up afterwards. \\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

Rinsing vegetables and fruits

Raw vegetables and fruits rarely have the disease-carrying pathogens that meat does, and rinsing to remove dirt, critters (slugs, insects) and some chemical residues is often sufficient and recommended. \\xa0\\xa0But occasionally we hear of contaminated products and their eventual recall.\\xa0 Raw leafy greens like romaine lettuce were recently linked to listeria outbreaks and we\\u2019ve heard of Salmonella in spinach and other bagged leafy greens caused by trapped moisture. Cross-contamination can happen anywhere in the food production process. \\xa0Even organic triple-washed produce can be tainted, and rinsing will not remove all pathogens, so be aware of product recalls, buy the freshest and consume as soon as possible. Thankfully, contaminated raw produce in the US is fairly rare and its risk is far outweighed by the benefits of consuming raw vegetables and fruits.\\xa0

What about mushrooms? \\xa0Mushrooms are like sponges, so many experts will tell you not to wash and to just either wipe or brush away the dirt.\\xa0 However, I find that brushing is not always effective at removing pine needles, bugs or other unwanted debris, especially if like me, you forage wild mushrooms. \\xa0Brushing can also be harsh on delicate specimens and too much exuberance can strip away mushroom flesh.\\xa0 So if wiping or brushing is sufficient to clean your mushrooms, go for it, and if you decide to rinse them, just make sure to dry them thoroughly in a salad spinner or pat dry with paper or tea towels.\\xa0\\xa0 And since you will be cooking mushrooms (it\\u2019s not recommended to eat them raw due to toxins present in all mushrooms), any pathogens present will be destroyed.

So to recap, here are our Hygiene and Sanitation rules:

Rule number one: Wash your hands! And by that, I mean with soap and water. The CDC recommends at least 20 seconds. \\xa0Wash after using the restroom, after blowing your nose, \\xa0coughing or sneezing into hands, handling sick persons, \\xa0before handling food of any kind, after and while handling raw food\\u2014especially raw meat and eggs. Wash before eating. \\xa0When in doubt, wash your hands.

Rule number two: wash (or dispose of, in the case of used paper towels and meat packaging) anything and everything that was in contact with raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs.\\xa0

Rule number three: Do not wash raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs.\\xa0 If you do, then go to rules number one and two.Rule number four: Buy and consume fresh vegetables and fruits and rinse, even if organic or triple washed \\xa0

This is the end of part 1 of \\xa0\\u201cExpellarmus Pathogenus!\\u201d Understanding Pathogens

Read part 2 of \\u201cExpellarmus Pathogenus!\\u201d