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July 14, 2005
Prairie Fare: Keeping Food Safe While Eating on the Run
As we got out of our car in the mall parking lot, I caught a glimpse of a food safety hazard in the next vehicle. Peering into a stranger’s car isn’t my usual habit, mind you, but I couldn’t help noticing. It was more than 90 degrees outside. A carton of milk, a hamburger with a bite out of it, fries and some other foods were in the passenger seat of the neighboring car. We’ve all climbed into a hot car on a hot day. The temperature in the car, I’m sure, was much higher than 90 degrees. Maybe, I thought, they just went in to pick up a prescription and they’d be out in a few minutes. I left it at that. We shopped about 2 1/2 hours. When we returned, the car still was parked beside our car. The hamburger still was in place, with no additional bites taken. I’m not the food safety police. I don’t have “food safety violation tickets” to issue. I didn’t do anything. Thinking back, I wonder if I should have left a note. Hopefully, the warm milk wasn’t appealing on a hot day. I’m sure the burger was lukewarm, too. Bacteria grow quickly at warm temperatures. We can’t see them with our bare eyes, so we have to rely on time and temperature as ways to control their growth. Our “rule of thumb” is to leave food out no more than an hour when temperatures exceed 90 degrees. Bacteria grow by dividing in two. Bacteria double in number every 15 or 20 minutes, depending on the type of bacteria, the temperature and the food. At first, the growth in numbers seems small, but it builds to a rapid pace. For example, let’s say there are 25 bacteria on a hamburger or milk at 2 p.m. Using the 15-minute doubling time because it was very warm that day, by 2:15, there would be 50. By 2:30, there would be 100. At 3:30, the number of bacteria would grow to 1,600. By 4:30, there could be more than 25,000. Depending on the type of bacteria, that could be enough to make someone sick. With some bacteria, it only takes a few to make you ill. Some bacteria produce toxins or poisons that rapidly cause illness. These are some things to do when you’re eating on the road or taking food home:
Here’s a quick and easy salad that doubles as a dessert. Chill the cans of fruit before preparing it so you start with cold food. Refrigerate leftovers. Pack it in a cooler if you’re taking it to a picnic.
Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Market Advisor: |
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North Dakota State University |
