Is Your Food Safe?
Reported October 14, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Stories about food contamination may have you thinking twice about buying produce these days — and it’s not just the recent salmonella outbreak in tomatoes that caused a scare. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says in the U.S. alone, food-borne pathogens are responsible for 76 million illnesses every year. Now, food scientists may have found a way to make your next serving of veggies safer.
Heather LeCompte buys a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables for her family but now, she’s extra careful.
“It makes me feel very scared that what I eat I can get sick from,” LeCompte told Ivanhoe. “So now, we’re taking more precautions in our family to really clean vegetables.”
The CDC says food-borne illnesses — many from fresh produce — send 300 thousand Americans to the hospital every year. More than 5 thousand die. University of Georgia food microbiologists may have found a way to make fresh produce safer — through a wash that kills dangerous bacteria like salmonella and E. coli in as little as one minute.
“It’s a combination of an organic acid and a detergent that, when together, is highly bactericidal,” Michael Doyle, Ph.D., a food microbiologist at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., told Ivanhoe. “It kills very large numbers of harmful bacteria.”
The chemicals are inexpensive and are already FDA-approved for other uses. You can’t taste or smell them, but researchers say together, they kill thousands more food pathogens than chlorine bleach, which is currently used.
“If it turns out to be as good as we think it is, it will be very exciting,” Dr. Doyle said. “I think it will be a major contribution to reducing food-borne pathogen contamination in foods.”
Until then, food scientists say it’s up to you. Wash your hands before you handle produce. Then, after you’ve peeled it or removed outer leaves, wash your hands again with soap. Finally, rinse one more time. These simple steps could make your next meal safer.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Pete Konenkamp, Public Relations
University of Georgia
(706) 542-8080
pkonenka@uga.edu