A 7th Canadian died from salmonella in the days before many Canadians gathered with family to tuck into typically massive meals.
All the salmonella deaths, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) states, have been linked to Malichita and Rudy brand cantaloupes. The agency has confirmed 164 cases of salmonella from the brand and fruit so far.
Four million Canadians get food poisoning every year, according to PHAC. Common symptoms include vomiting, stomach pain and nausea. Chef David Wolfman, an instructor at George Brown College, said it’s very common, especially in the busy holiday season.
How to prevent food poisoning
Wolfman said handling food properly is the most important step to prevent food poisoning. And the first component of that, he told Global News, is making sure food stays a safe temperature – between -15 and 60 degrees Celsius (or four and 140 degrees Fahrenheit) for meat, before and after its cooked.
“When it’s in that danger zone, the bacteria just multiplies quicker,” he said.
Wolfman said long lines at the grocery store when buying a holiday turkey, maybe a long drive home or letting a cooked bird sit on the counter for longer than a few hours (beginning when it is removed from the oven) will give bacteria a chance to grow and result in illness. Canada’s health agency says cooked food shouldn’t be on a counter longer than two hours.
Wolfman also stressed you shouldn’t refreeze something you’ve defrosted, unless you’ve cooked it in between. The safest way to defrost frozen meat is in the refrigerator, according to Wolfman and PHAC. The next step, he said, is making sure the meat is properly cooked through.
“I just use a digital thermometer,” the chef with more than four decades’ experience said. “In my opinion, is one of the best things that you can get.” The best way to check if meat is cooked is using the thermometer on the coldest spot. On a turkey, Wolfman said the thermometer should be inserted in between the shoulders – between the wing and breastbone.
“This is where the most amount of bones are and bones take longer to cook than protein,” he said. Otherwise, the best place to check the temperature is in the middle of the meat.
Canada has a list of safe internal temperatures for meat here.
One of the most common, food-poisoning-causing mistakes he encounters is cross-contamination.
“If I’m handling raw turkey and then I’m turning the faucet on and off, it can get contaminated,” Wolfman said.
He said having separate cutting boards and utensils for raw meat and cooked meat of each type helps prevent sickness later. PHAC also states different kinds of raw meat should be stored separately.
He told Global News he wears gloves even when making meatloaf and washes his hands before cooking and always after touching raw meat.