I'm a microbiologist and here's what (and where) I never eat
Every year, around 2.4 million people in the UK get food poisoning – mostly from viral or bacterial contamination. Most people recover within a few days without treatment, but not all are that lucky. As a microbiologist, I’m probably more acutely aware of the risk of food-borne infections than most. Here are some of the things I look out for.Eating outdoors I rarely eat alfresco – whether picnics or barbecues – as the risk of food poisoning goes up when food is taken outdoors.
Every year, around 2.4 million people in the UK get food poisoning – mostly from viral or bacterial contamination. Most people recover within a few days without treatment, but not all are that lucky. As a microbiologist, I’m probably more acutely aware of the risk of food-borne infections than most. Here are some of the things I look out for.
Eating outdoors
- I rarely eat alfresco – whether picnics or barbecues – as the risk of food poisoning goes up when food is taken outdoors.
- You can use alcohol hand gels (they’re better than nothing), but they don’t kill all germs.
- For barbecues, meat needs to be thoroughly cooked, and a meat thermometer is a good investment to avoid food poisoning.
Buffets
- Contamination comes from buffet visitors touching food, and germs can be sprayed on to buffets from people sneezing or coughing close to the food.
- The problem is buffets tend to be laid out before you arrive, so it is difficult to tell if the platters of cooked meat, seafood, salads, desserts and appetisingly arranged fruit and vegetables will have been sitting for more than two hours when you come to eat them.
- For hot buffets, such as those served at breakfast in hotels, I always avoid lukewarm food, as bacteria that cause food poisoning can grow quickly when food is kept at less than 60℃.
Oysters
- There are some foods I never eat, and raw shellfish, such as oysters, is one of them.
- This is because oysters are filter feeders and can concentrate germs, such as Vibrio and norovirus, in their tissue.
Bagged salads
- I never eat bagged salads, largely because one of my research areas is fresh salad safety.
- It has been found that bagged lettuce can contain food poisoning germs such as E coli, Salmonella and Listeria.
Cooking practices
- In terms of cooking practices, I have a list of dos and don’ts.
- One of my “never do” practices is reheating cooked rice.
- Although the Bacillus cells are killed by cooking, the spores survive.
Dining out
- I never collect “doggy bags” of food leftovers (they have usually exceeded the two-hour time limit), even if they really are intended for a pet.
- The benefits of being a microbiologist are that we know how to avoid food poisoning and, in return, people have confidence our cooking is very safe to eat.