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How to Recognize Hazardous Foods

Written By: Alexandra Perez-Urbina on Monday, July 7, 2008

An extremely helpful guide for recognizing how harmful bacteria grows on food, which foods are at risk, and how to avoid illness.

It is so easy to get sick from food, and it only took one semester in culinary school for me to become completely paranoid about bacteria and microorganisms. I guess maybe I have always been a little on the hypochondriac side. I blame it on my singing days, when a simple sneeze across the street would send me running to the pharmacy for zinc and vitamin C. But in all honesty, foodborne illness is scary business. Vomiting and diarrhea have never been pleasant, and in many cases, they are only two little symptoms amongst many other incredibly unpleasant ones.

Of course, almost all food is exposed to bacteria and has the potential to spoil. However, some foods are more likely to cause trouble than others. In the exciting world of sanitation, there is a little something called "potentially hazardous food." This pertains to food that could make you ill that also has a natural potential for contamination.

Generally, potentially hazardous foods contain the following: moisture, protein, neutral or slightly acidic pH, and require time-temperature control to prevent the growth of those nasty, little microorganisms that could get you oh-so-sick. An example of a potentially hazardous food is meat, and of all four characteristics, the only one we can control is the time it is exposed to any temperature ranging from 41°F - 135°F, better known as the "temperature danger zone." Bacteria can double their population in only twenty minutes; therefore, something as simple as improperly defrosting ground beef could make you and your family sick.

When one defrosts food outside of the refrigerator, the food becomes exposed to room temperature, making the outside warm, while the inside is still frozen. This method allows microorganisms to grow where the temperature is warmest. As far as defrosting goes, the best method is to leave the frozen food in the refrigerator overnight, which works perfectly for smaller cuts of meat. Other foods, such as a frozen turkey, will obviously need more time. The idea is for the food to defrost slowly, and to keep the temperature at a steady 41°F or lower.

Another safe method is to submerge food under cool, running water (if you want to be specific, 70°F or lower). With this method, the water flow must be strong to wash off particles, and of course, the sink should be clean. Food can also be safely defrosted in the microwave as long as it will be cooked right away. And for the busy bees, you can thaw food as you cook it (I find myself doing that fairly often). This process works great with frozen chicken strips; I usually steam them a little before sautéing.

This brings me to another major concern pertaining frozen food, especially fish. Sometimes during the travels of food, especially frozen food, things go a little wrong-maybe the truck's thermometer is a little off, or there is something wrong with the cooling system, or maybe your favorite supermarket did not store the food right away. Anyway, the food's temperature goes up, and is sometimes exposed to temperatures in the "danger zone." Your supermarket clerk then follows orders and takes these warm, juicy unfrozen frozen foods to the freezer. The products then re-reeze, forming pretty, little ice crystals that assure the buyer that the food is good because it is really frozen-solid! My point is DO NOT purchase potentially hazardous foods with ice crystals on them, especially fish. Scombroid, or histamine, poisoning is commonly associated with tuna, mahi mahi, sardines, bonito, and anchovies. Scombroid poisoning occurs when fish is time-temperature abused, producing bacteria. This bacteria produces a histamine that could send you running to the nearest hospital. The symptoms resemble a severe allergic reaction, and they could show up right away and up to two hours after consumption. You cannot cook this histamine, you cannot freeze it, you cannot wash it, you cannot kill it. Period. Run away from the ice crystals.

Food, like love, has the potential to bring us great pleasure or great pain. However, in my humble opinion, food should always bring pleasure. As consumers and cooks, we must be careful with what we purchase and prepare for our safety and the safety of our loved ones, which is why a little food-safety knowledge goes a long way.

* By the way, if you think you ate something that might be making you sick, Cabernet, Merlot, Zinfandel, and even red grape juice, are effective at helping the body fight bacteria. A study from the University of Missouri-Columbia showed that red wine appears to act as an anti-microbial in our intestinal tract, while leaving helpful probiotic bacteria intact. The ethanol and acidity in wine are thought to be responsible for wines' antimicrobial abilities.

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