Ten Riskiest Foods:

Healthy Common Foods That Could Make Us Sick!

When we think of food poisoning, we think of chicken, beef, seafood, right? However, studies are showing that the top riskiest foods involve popular "healthy" foods. Over 40% of all food borne illnesses outbreaks are caused by foods that we normally think of as good for us.

A study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest listed the top ten riskiest foods they have studied – the ones most likely to make us sick.

Once we look over the list, we might ask, “Where are chicken and beef?” Mishandled or undercooked chicken and beef (as well as other foods like seafood) have a long track record for making people sick; many of us know it and are sure to attempt at least to cook them properly and consistently. This study, on the other hand, focused on the high risk foods that we may not know about; these foods are generally considered healthy for us but, if mishandled, they could put us in the hospital.

Leafy Greens

363 outbreaks (an outbreak is two or more persons becoming ill from the same product), over 13,000 illnesses reported.

Does this come as a surprise? Leafy greens can be very good for us. They can also make us sick!

Handlers may not properly clean the Leafy greens, leaving harmful germs. A truck not cold enough (the refrigerator on the truck may not be at 5°C, during the entire trip from processor to the store) to transport salads, is a truck where germs could start to grow. Since salads aren't cooked, we could ingest germs just by eating without washing and sanitising.

So how to make sure it’s safe?

Start with smart buying. Check both the dates and the quality of the packaging.

Make sure to wash and sanitise all lettuces properly before you eat or prepare them.

Finally, don’t let salads sit out too long. If germs, like E-coli, are present (and must assume they are), they may be able to start growing while the greens sit out on the buffet table long time.

Eggs

352 outbreaks, over 11,000 illnesses reported.

Salmonella Enteritidis is a bacteria found on many eggs. It’s not unusual. These bacteria come from the inside of the hen herself.

All eggs are washed at the farm before shipping – which cuts down on the number of outbreaks – but the bacteria sometimes still slips through.

As with chicken breast meat, proper cooking will make eggs safe.

Consuming undercooked eggs is a higher risk.

Cook eggs to at least 65˚ C for 2 minutes to kill the germs.

Don’t store raw eggs at room temperature. Be in a chiller.

Tuna

268 outbreaks, over 2,000 illnesses reported.

Fresh tuna– tuna that is just caught – must be handled properly, whether it ends up at the seafood counter or in the canning factory. Failure by fishermen or harvesters to chill the tuna to at least 15⁰C immediately after catching allows a toxin called Scombroid to contaminate the fish.

Scombroid causes dizziness, hot flushes, swelling of mouth and lips, abdominal cramping, vomiting, and other nasty symptoms.

These toxins generally CANNOT be cooked out of the tuna. In addition, it is virtually impossible to determine if the tuna has been contaminated before consuming it. So choose your tuna wisely!

Eating undercooked tuna and sushi can be an even greater risk.

Oysters

132 outbreaks, over 3000 illnesses reported.

Oysters, usually considered a specialty food, often carry germs like Norovirus and Vibrio.

When undercooked or eaten raw, these germs are ingested, giving the consumer symptoms that range from vomiting and diarrhea to red blood blisters on the skin.

Consuming those Raw Oysters on the Half Shell isn’t really worth that.

What’s the best thing you can do to make oysters safe?

Cook them properly!

Potato

108 outbreaks, over 3,600 illnesses reported.

Potato salad is one of most popular dishes especially for parties. But it can also carry germs like Shigella and Salmonella – not exactly what you want to serve your guests!

If cooked potatoes are not cooled down properly, germs can grow in them for extended periods of time.

Couple these improperly cooled potatoes with mayonnaise or oil, and you have a perfect breeding ground for germs to go nuts in before you put it all into your stomach.

Best thing to do?

When making potato salad, cool down the cooked potatoes to 5°C quickly as possible BEFORE you mix in the other ingredients, and then put it back in the refrigerator right away!

And if you buy pre-made potato salad, make sure that it stays cold. Other potato foods should also be treated carefully

Cheese

83 outbreaks, over 2,700 illnesses reported.

There are several reasons why cheese makes the top ten, so let’s break it down to explain.

The process of making most cheese involves injecting GOOD bacteria into the other cheese ingredients. While these strains of germs may not make us sick, there is always a chance that other germs (like Salmonella) may sneak in, too.

The making of cheese takes time – in some cases, a long time. As a result, if the cheese picks up a strain of bad bacteria, the bad stuff can have more than enough time to grow.

Many cheeses come from countries that do not always have a food safety or inspection standards that they must have to ensure safety and suitability of these high risk products.

Ice cream

74 outbreaks, over 2,500 illnesses reported.

It’s too bad! This tasty treat can bring with it some dangers, like Salmonella and Staphylococcus.

The largest outbreak of ice cream illness was caused by a truck that carried a load of unpasteurized dairy products, and subsequently a load of pasteurized dairy products, without proper cleaning and sanitation between loads. As a result, the pasteurized milk (destined to become ice cream) was contaminated by the germs in the unpasteurized milk.

The study claims that many cases of food borne illness start with under-processed and/or unpasteurized dairy products that some people prefer to use at home.  

Tomato

31 outbreaks, over 3,000 illnesses reported.

The tomato has been getting a bad rap recently, both justifiably and unjustifiably. Not long ago, tomatoes were blamed for a Salmonella outbreak, when the bad guys were really serraños (hot peppers) and jalapeños. However, raw tomatoes have been responsible for some outbreaks, mostly caused by restaurants.

Salmonella is often traced back to the raw tomato; even though the tomato’s acidic level is often at a range that most bacteria don’t like, Salmonella is able to live on sliced or cut tomatoes.

In the past, many restaurants would let tomatoes sit on the counter, giving any Salmonella that might be present a chance to grow.

Tomatoes are now deemed a potentially hazardous food, and must abide by stricter food safety rules when used.

When preparing any raw tomatoes, make sure to wash, sanitise and refrigerate them right away to keep Salmonella from growing.

Sprouts

31 outbreaks, over 2,000 illnesses reported.

The problem with bean (or alfalfa or other) sprouts is that the bean itself may be damaged or contaminated. Germs can come in contact with a bean either in handling or in processing, and pass themselves on to the sprout.

E-coli and Salmonella are the most frequent guest visitors to bean sprouts.

The safest sprouts are cooked ones, but many salads as well as many Chinese dishes serve or use them raw or partially cooked.

The best practice is to cook them. When you purchase sprouts, make sure they are cold when you pick them up. If they are not, they may have been growing germs while waiting to be purchased. In addition, check the sell-by or use-by date to ensure that you are purchasing fresh sprouts.

Berries

25 outbreaks, over 3,300 illnesses reported.

Believe it or not, Hepatitis A can be in the berry you bite into. Where does it come from? From berry pickers who may not wash their hands properly after using the restroom while in the fields.

Flu-like symptoms, jaundice (yellowing of eyes or skin, which can mean internal issues), vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain can be signs of Hepatitis A.

The biggest issue is that a person infected with Hepatitis A can infect others, even if he/she doesn't demonstrate symptoms. And an infected person who doesn't wash hands properly after using the restroom is even more dangerous.

Cyclospora are also nasty visitors to berries. This parasite lives in untreated water; since berries have high water content, they may actually be living inside the berries. When you bite into a fresh berry, you consume the live parasite, which now lives off you as its host long enough to make you sick.

As with all produce, washing berries properly will help remove anything on the outside of the berry. However, buying berries only in season can be much safer than taking a risk with other berries.