Hand washing, thoroughly cooking meats and using pasteurized
juice and milk are the
best ways to avoid food-borne illness like Monday’s Spokane,
Wash., outbreak, said a
professor.
Press reports say seven young children, including five
who attended the same Spokane
day care center, were infected with the E. coli
0157:H7 bacteria. One child was
hospitalized.
Judy Harrison,
a foods and nutrition
professor with the UGA College of Family and Consumer
Sciences, has developed two training programs that focus
on protecting young children
and older adults from such illnesses.
“Almost any food can cause illness if it’s mishandled,”
Harrison said.
“And mishandling often has to do with people not being
careful about washing their
hands.”
Adults aren’t the only ones who have to be careful about
washing hands, she said.
Children may arrive at a day care center harboring pathogens
such as E. coli without
knowing it.
| “E. coli 1057:H7 infection begins with
diarrhea, as do most food-borne illnesses,” Harrison said. “If you have a child who’s harboring an organism and he goes to the bathroom and doesn’t thoroughly wash his hands, the organism could be passed to other children. “It could be spread
|
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Cooking meat thoroughly, too, and using pasteurized juice
and egg products at day care
centers or programs for the elderly can prevent the outbreak
of food-borne illnesses,
Harrison said.
“Cases of E. coli 0157:H7 have been attributed to
children drinking unpasteurized
juice,” she said. “E. coli 0157:H7 has been found to be more
acid-tolerant than
some pathogens. It can survive several days in things like
unpasteurized juice.”
E. coli hasn’t been shown to be a problem in egg
products. But salmonella, which also
can cause severe illnesses, is found in eggs. Pasteurizing
of egg products and thorough
cooking destroys salmonella.
Harrison said the best way to make sure meat is
thoroughly cooked is to use a meat
thermometer.
“We used to say if there wasn’t any pink left and the
juices ran clear, you could
consider the meat thoroughly cooked,” she said. “However,
studies have shown
that some ground beef will lose its pink color before it
reaches 160 degrees. That’s the
level necessary to kill E. coli 0157:H7 in beef.”
Harrison’s training programs are available through county
Extension Service FACS
agents. The same agents can provide charts of the
temperatures needed to kill food-borne
pathogens.
