Yesterday, I learned about another outbreak of bacterial
illness caused by contaminated cantaloupes.
Chances are, if you live in the Midwest, you have heard about it; cantaloupes
from Southern Indiana are the problem this time. If you haven’t heard about this outbreak,
here is a news article that lists the states where people have fallen ill. In this article from the organization Food Safety News, you can see the same information as a graphic, and note that they
have posted at least one update at the top of the article (I plan to check this
article and website again for updates).
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| Cantaloupe by Brunhilde Reinig |
My children love cantaloupe. One of the reasons I am writing this post is
because we bought a cantaloupe a week ago that is still sitting in my refrigerator. The kids have asked me to cut it a couple of
times, but I was waiting until we had finished eating other fruits. As soon as I saw a news article about cantaloupes
causing illness, I remembered our cantaloupe, and I sprang into action. I’d like to share how I handle news about
food illness outbreaks, particularly foods we have already bought.
Of course, the easiest thing to do is throw out
any suspect food that might cause illness.
You absolutely should do this if you aren’t sure whether your cantaloupe
is a problem. Be especially cautious if you or anyone in your family is pregnant,
breastfeeding, or immune suppressed (due to chronic illness, a serious
infection, certain medications, youth, or age).
My family is in good health and I hate to waste food; also I’m curious
about how food gets contaminated, so I always research before I take action
about a food borne illness. Here is how
I do it.
5 Ways to Protect Your Family During a Food Illness Outbreak
No. 1:
Pay attention to food news.
In order to protect your family, you need to know
about the outbreak to begin with. I try
to get a little bit of news every day, and I use different news sources. This ensures I get a wider variety of news,
as well as makes it easier to get news on a daily basis. I listen to National Public Radio in the car
most days. Sometimes, I watch local or
national news while I make dinner. Other
times, I read the headlines on yahoo after I log off from my e-mail. We subscribe to our city newspaper on Sundays,
so I try to read through the paper when I have time during the week. I learned about this particular cantaloupe illness,
as well the one last year, from the yahoo headlines before I saw television
news coverage.
No. 2:
Research food related news further.
Once I learn about a food borne illness, I look
for on-line articles and watch the news to get more information. During this process, I usually learn about
other food illnesses. For example, both
last year and this year, I learned about previous infectious outbreaks caused
by cantaloupes that I had not heard about because they were smaller in
scope. Seeking good information is
key. In particular, I want to know where
the food was grown and where people who are ill acquired the food. See the links above for information on the
current outbreak.
No. 3:
Seek information on the food you have
bought.
Once I learn which growers, suppliers, or people
are affected, I check the stickers on my produce for information on
origin. If there is no sticker, not
enough information, or we have recently eaten the food, I call the store where
I bought it and speak to the produce manager.
I called last year and this year about the cantaloupes and each time, I
was told the exact origin of the fruit I bought. I had to wait while they confirmed the
information, but I was happy to do so in order to have an accurate answer. Fortunately, our cantaloupes were not
infected.
No. 4:
Wash your produce very well.
For protection against any outbreaks you may not
know about, and to remove dirt, germs, and pesticide residue, always wash your
produce well. All of your produce should
be washed, even if you intend to peel it.
This is particularly important for cantaloupes: their bumpy ridged rind
is the perfect place for dirt and bacteria to hang out. The rough skin on a cantaloupe can pick up
and hold germs from any number of sources: irrigation water, agricultural
animal run-off, wild animal feces, farm worker’s hands, and washing equipment. Any bacteria on the rind can move through the
fruit along with your cutting knife.
I use a vegetable brush to wash all of my produce. Recently I have been washing just with water. In the past, I used water with a few drops of
dish soap, but after I switched to natural dish soap (hence no preservatives),
the mixture got cloudy and I no longer trusted it. A few days ago, my friend Karri shared a recipe for produce wash that uses water, apple cider vinegar, and lemon
juice. I have heard about using ACV as a
produce wash before, so you can bet I’ll be mixing up this new wash tomorrow
and scrubbing my cantaloupe with it a couple of times.
No. 5: Cultivate a healthy immune response in your gut.
For protection against any illness, food borne or
infectious, keep your gut flora (beneficial bacteria) flourishing. Eat yogurt, kefir, and fermented foods
daily. Supplement with pro-biotics, especially
during and after illness, while taking antibiotics, and when your stomach is
upset. Other foods that have
anti-bacterial properties include oregano, garlic, ginger, and thyme. Use these often in your cooking to help your
immune system battle bacterial illnesses.
How do you handle news of food borne illness? Will you be eating cantaloupe? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Amy at Raising Arrows hosts a weekly Welcome Home Link up focused on homemaking and related topics; you will find this post
linked there this week.
The many bloggers at The Better Mom host the Better Mom Mondays Link up for posts on “the topics of mothering, marriage, homemaking, discipleship, recipes, organization and more,” so I have also linked there.
Sarah at Nature’s Nurture hosts a weekly Tiny Tip Tuesday Link up for posts “pertaining to anything natural, frugal, sustainable, or homemade.”
I have linked up at Crafolic’s monthly
Tea with Saint Anne Link up, which is for posts helpful to Catholic families.
Megan at Sorta Crunchy shares hosting duty for
the weekly Your Green Resource Link up with three other blogs. This link up is for green living: recycling,
repurposing, do-it-yourself, organic gardening, and recipes using whole foods.
Ann Kroeker hosts a weekly Food on Fridays Link up, so I have also connected there, where you will find many links somehow
(either casually or directly) related to food and recipes.
