Max, Not to minimize the importance of keeping the work area clean and sanitary but keeping hands clean sure would eliminate a good portion of food contamination. Many years ago two of my boys came down with Hepatitis A. We searched frantically for the source. We checked and rechecked our home practices and so on. Strictly by happenstance we discovered that both boys attended a Cub Scout meeting where they make some sort of play dough or something using peanut butter and other things. I can not quite remember exactly what they made but it did involve peanut butter. The peanut butter was not the culprit but hands in it and then hands in one's mouth was. Apparently one or more of the boys did not wash their hands after visiting the bathroom and, WALLA! Hepatitis A.... I still recall the attitude of the Den Leader. He was astounded that we might think that washing hands was important because "they were not preparing food". Not to belabor the point but not all that long ago a nurse caused the death of a baby because she had not properly washer hands after changing another baby and managed to infect another child. Cy, the Ancient Okie... -----Original Message----- From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Max Hearn Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 10:11 PM To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Good food practice
Greetings all, I believe that we are all spinning the cylinder on the revolver and pulling back the hammer to come down with salmonella, shigella, noro-virus, campylobacter and various and assorted food borne illnesses UNLESS....we follow the simple rules of cleaning and sanitizing surfaces, avoiding cross-contamination, following proper food storage temperatures, keeping food out of the danger zone and last, but most important washing one's hands every chance you get. Luck can prevail and a cutting board, be it wood, plastic, glass or whatever may not make us sick by supporting bacterial growth. However, it can and often does because we don't follow the rules of food protection. The two most easily controllable factors in food safety and sanitation are Time and Temperature. Food left out to warm to room temperature becomes media for bacterial growth. Food products are generally not sterilized and may frequently have bacteria on it or exposed during the preparation or process, The danger zone is considered 40 degrees to 140 degrees. Most bacteria may well grow easily at those temperatures. The ranges of temperatures above and below that are considered "safe". Just to add to the intrigue of the game, these temperatures do support some bacterial growth {psychrophilic (cold-loving) and thermophilic (hot-loving) }. Time is important because most bacteria, in order to make one sick need to be in large numbers. Again to add to the game, Ecoli 0157-H7 can make us sick with relatively few numbers (some say as few as 50)! Bacterial organisms are tiny, about 1/25,000 of an inch or 5 to 7 microns. This size is so very tiny that the pores or cells in that wooden cutting board look like the swimming pool in your back yard. Any food debris or fluid from meat or their juices, or other organic materials becomes a veretable bacterial feast and if at the right temperature for the right amount of time....there you have it....FOOD POISONING! The gift....without cleaning and sanitizing....that keeps on giving. Practice food safety and sanitization in everything that you do. Don't just use one part of the process. It takes all of the process to keep you safe in the kitchen. Dishwashing and sanitizing the dishes and utensils is just as important....don't forget that, either! I know, you hate that part, but don't trade it for 36 to 48 hours of gut-wrenching nausea and vomiting and explosive diarrhea just to save a few minutes of work before the favorite TV show or card game. Once you get food poisoning....you'll never forget the cleaning and sanitizing process or the dishwashing again! Don't worry so much about what the cutting board is made out of, but do worry about whether it is clean and sanitized. Nuff said and I can't even cook! Have a good SAFE dinner tonight! Max in SC ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 9:50 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Good food practice > not to speak o even moderate chopping. 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