After NRK came up with a really scary story about Norwegian chicken that freaked everyone out, theyre trying to fix some of the damage with this article. Im a clinical dietician I thought I might give some information for those if you who dont speak Norwegian or who want to know more about this. (Apologies beforehand for this being a lot to read. I tried to be thorough enough.) The E. coli bacteria is and has been common in all types of meat. Its also common in your body. It has many different versions, and chances are that a few of the times youve eaten something that made you sick were because of some of the friendlier versions of E. coli. That being said, a few other versions, if present in large amounts in food, can be quite dangerous. Now, according to some recent research, about 30% of the raw the chicken sold in Norway carries E. coli which is resistant to some of the most common antibiotics. That includes both friendly and unfriendly versions of the bacteria. The question of resistance to antibiotics comes into play when someone actually becomes sick with one of the less friendly strands and needs treatment. According to this article, research hasnt yet gone far enough to estimate how many people actually get affected by the resistant (ESBL) types of E. coli. So the point is not to get sick in the first place. It doesnt necessarily follow from that research that chicken is more dangerous than any other raw meat sold in stores. No results are presented for other meats, so it might be just as bad, if not worse. Either way, because the presence of different varieties of E. coli types and other pathogens is taken as a given for all raw meats, the following advice for hygiene goes for handling ALL kinds of raw meat. So how can you protect yourself? - Never let frozen meat thaw in room temperature. Use the fridge, or for quicker results, the microwave, or put it in a hot water bath. If youll use the fridge for thawing, place the meat at the lowest shelf and make sure that nothing can drip from it to other foods. - This is common sense, but still: never prepare anything to eat that has expired, stayed in room temperature for too long, has changed colour or texture or smells weird. Throw it away. - Also common sense: wash your hands! That goes for before and after handling any food. You need to lather with soap for at least 20 seconds and rinse well for this to be effective. - If youre going to do more than chopping or lightly handle meat (if, for example, youre going to make burgers), its advisable to use gloves. Wash hands after youre done. - Use clean utensils and washcloths. Wash kitchen towels regularly. - Always use separate utensils and a plastic cutting board for meat, and use that gear only for raw meat and nothing else. Never cut or handle raw meat directly on the kitchen counter. - Wash everything that comes in contact with raw meat in the dishwasher. If you dont have a dishwasher, wash with kitchen soap, again for at least 20 seconds. (If you want additional protection, after youve washed thoroughly, you can boil water and rinse things with it for at least a couple of minutes - dont burn your hands though! Avoid using chlorine or other bacteria-killing chemicals as bacteria can actually develop resistance to those too.) - Dont let raw meat, or anything that has been in contact with it, touch fresh food. Be especially careful if youre going to prepare a salad or food that wont be cooked after handling raw meat. Use separate utensils for raw and cooked meat when barbequing and keep them away from each other. - Use high enough temperatures to cook meat (over 100 degrees C) - but dont burn your food! Burnt meat isnt good for you either, but thats for other reasons. Just be patient and check that everything has been cooked through and for enough time. - If there are leftovers, put them in the fridge as soon as possible. Dont wait more than a day to consume leftover meat. Warm it up just like you cooked it, ie. at high enough temperature for long enough time. If you think thats too much and you still want to do as you did because nothing has happened to you, thats your choice and I wont bully you into changing your habits. Its your life and your body. However, if youre preparing food for others, especially babies, small children, pregnant women, elderly people or people with a weak immune response (ie. already ill), PLEASE PLEASE follow these guidelines. Questions and/or corrections are welcome :)
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:32:45 +0000
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