
Falling ill with food poisoning can ruin any gathering. More than a dozen multistate foodborne disease outbreaks occurred in 2019, ranging from contaminated basil and bison to flour, turkey and tuna.
When preparing food at home, there are simple ways to prevent illness with proper hand-washing, avoiding cross-contamination of foods, and cooking foods to proper temperature. It becomes a little more complicated when you depend on others to prepare your food, especially at restaurants.
Kristen Frie, a registered dietitian nutritionist at the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program, says having a mental checklist of what to watch out for may help keep some potential disasters at bay. She also offers some tips.
"We don't always see the food being prepared in the back of the kitchen, but if food comes to your table that looks like it's undercooked, ask the server to send it back and have them cook it further or start over. Another thing would be when you take home your leftovers to make sure they get refrigerated as fast as possible."
Watch: Kristen Frie offers food safety tips.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites are in the downloads at the end of the post. Please "Courtesy: Mayo Clinic News Network."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this checklist to help prevent foodborne illness:
"Walk in the restaurant. Check it out. Does it look clean? And then once you sit down, watch around you. What's happening? Order your food well-cooked. Check your food when it comes to you. Make sure it is well-prepared in terms of food safety — temperature is where you expect it to be. And then soon as you're done with those leftovers, bring them home and refrigerate them," says Frie.
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