Protecting Our Food Supply - Chapter 12 Notes

Food Production Choices

  • 570 million farms produce 80% of the world's food.
    • Large farms are primarily located in the Americas.
    • Smaller farms are mainly found in Asia.
  • Advances in agriculture affecting food supply:
    • Organic food production.
    • Food biotechnology.
    • Sustainable agriculture.
  • New developments in agriculture aim to reduce:
    • Carbon footprint.
    • Food waste.

Organic Foods

  • Organic Foods Production Act:
    • Established standards for foods with the USDA Organic Seal.
    • Foods grown without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, antibiotics, sewage sludge, genetic engineering, or irradiation.
    • Foods with multiple ingredients must have at least 95% organic ingredients by weight to be labeled as organic.
  • Farming Practices Used
    • Biological pest management.
    • Composting.
    • Manure applications.
    • Crop rotation.

Organic Foods and Health

  • Reasons people choose organic foods:
    • To reduce synthetic pesticide exposure.
    • To protect the environment.
    • Belief in improved nutritional quality.
  • Research indicates:
    • Organic and conventional foods are not significantly different in nutrient content or nutritional value.
    • The organic label does not guarantee better health.

Food Biotechnology

  • Genetic engineering: Manipulation of an organism's genetic makeup using recombinant DNA technology.
    • Techniques involve transferring foreign DNA to improve food production and yield.
  • Genetically modified organism (GMO) or transgenic organism: Any organism created by genetic engineering.
    • FDA is confident that approved GMO varieties are safe to consume.

Biotechnology Benefits

  • Studies over the past 20 years confirm significant benefits of biotech crops.
  • GMO technology has:
    • Reduced chemical pesticide use by over 35%.
    • Increased crop yield by over 20%.
    • Increased farmer profits by almost 70%.
    • Added value to be over 130 billion.

Biotechnology: Input and Output Traits

  • Input traits:
    • Herbicide tolerance.
    • Insect and virus protection.
    • Tolerance to environmental stressors like drought.
  • Output traits:
    • Plant oils with increased levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
    • Crops that produce pharmaceuticals.

GMO and Organic Foods

  • Organic foods:
    • No conclusive proof that organic foods automatically result in better health or nutrition.
  • GMO products:
    • No medically verified illnesses linked to consumption of GMO crops.
  • Labeling:
    • Non-GMO or organic labels are marketing strategies and do not guarantee better nutritional profiles or health outcomes.

Bioengineered Labels

  • Retail food products that are bioengineered or contain bioengineered ingredients will carry one of the bioengineered labels.

Sustainable Agriculture

  • Goals:
    • Satisfy human food needs.
    • Enhance environmental quality.
    • Efficiently use nonrenewable resources.
    • Sustain the economic viability of farm operations.
    • Enhance the quality of life of farmers and society.

Successful Sustainable Practices

  • Crop rotation: Reduces nutrient depletion of soil.
  • Intercropping: Growing two or more crops in proximity.
  • Step farming (terrace farming): Planting on hillsides by terracing slopes to hold water and retain topsoil.

Sustainable Solutions: Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS)

  • LOHAS market categories:
    1. Healthy living: Organic foods, natural products, nutritional supplements, health and fitness.
    2. Alternative health care: Integrative health care and holistic disease prevention.
    3. Personal development: Mind-body-emotion-spirit connections, self-help, leadership, life balance.
    4. Ecological lifestyles: Recycling, green building, ecotourism, eco-friendly products.
    5. Sustainable economy: Fair, ethical, and sustainable business practices; holistic worldview.

Sustainable Seafood

  • Seafood choices:
    • Complex issue with overfished species.
    • Overfished species: population jeopardized due to excessive harvesting.
    • Farmed or wild fish: Lower environmental cost than meat production.
  • United States:
    • Has rigorous standards, monitors fishing and aquaculture operations.
  • Challenge:
    • Over 90% of U.S. seafood is from international sources, with 50% from Southeast Asia.

Locally Grown Foods

  • Consumers demand transparency.
  • Locally grown food answers "where?"
  • Fresh options avoid added costs of long transportation.
  • Farmers’ markets: 9,000 on USDA list.
  • Locavore: Eats locally grown food.
  • No evidence local products are safer.

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)

  • CSA: Partnership between local food producers and consumers.
  • National Farm to School Network: Connects farmers with nearby school (K–12) cafeterias.
    • Objectives: Serve healthy meals, improve student nutrition, provide agriculture/health/nutrition education, support local farmers.
    • Kids are more likely to eat food if they meet the farmer.

Sustainable Solutions: Hydroponics

  • Hydroponics: Growing plants in soilless, nutrient-rich mediums in controlled environments.
  • Benefits:
    • Rapid plant growth with greater yields.
    • Reduced food and water waste.
    • Plants free of weeds and soilborne diseases.
    • Flexibility to farm in small spaces.

Agencies Responsible for Monitoring the U.S. Food Supply

USDA

  • Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
    • Ensures the safety, wholesomeness, and proper labeling of commercial meat, poultry, and egg products.

FDA

  • Protects consumers from impure, unsafe, and fraudulently labeled products.
  • Sets standards for specific foods.
    • FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)
      • Regulates foods other than those regulated by FSIS.

CDC

  • Gathers data on foodborne illnesses.
  • Investigates foodborne illnesses and outbreaks.
  • Monitors the effectiveness of prevention and control efforts.
  • Builds state and local health department capacity.

EPA

  • Regulates pesticides.
  • Establishes water quality standards.

National Marine Fisheries Service or NOAA Fisheries

  • Voluntary seafood inspection program.
  • Can use official mark to show federal inspection.

Pesticides in Food

  • Pesticide: Substance intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest.
    • Includes insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and rodenticides.
    • Produce beneficial and unwanted effects.
  • EPA:
    • Allows about 10,000 pesticides to be used, containing some 300 active ingredients.
    • 760 million pounds used in the United States each year.

Why Use Pesticides?

  • Economic: Increases production and lowers the cost of food.
  • Produces cosmetically attractive fruits and vegetables.
  • Prevents naturally occurring organisms that produce carcinogens.

Regulation of Pesticides

FDA

  • Enforces pesticide tolerances in all foods except meat, poultry, and certain egg products.

EPA

  • Decides that pesticide causes no unreasonable adverse effects on people and the environment.
  • Ensures that the benefits of use outweigh risks.

Food Inspection Service of USDA

  • Monitors meat, poultry, and certain egg products.

How Safe Are Pesticides?

  • Depends on:
    • Potency of chemical toxin.
    • Concentration in food.
    • Frequency of food consumption.
    • Consumer’s resistance or susceptibility.

Reducing Exposure to Pesticides

  • Wash: Wash and scrub all fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water.
  • Peel and Trim: Peel fruits and vegetables, discard outer leaves of leafy vegetables, trim fat from meat and skin from poultry/fish.
  • Select a Variety: Eat a wide variety of foods from different sources.
  • Choose Organic: Choose organically grown foods.
  • Use Insect Repellents Safely: Read label and apply safely.

Environmental Contaminants in Fish: Mercury and PCBs

  • Mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish:
    • By-products of industry.
    • Accumulate in fish tissue.
    • More concentrated in bigger fish.
  • Pregnant women advised to:
    • Eat up to 12 oz. of low-mercury fish each week.
    • Avoid high-mercury fish (swordfish, shark, tilefish, and king mackerel).

Environmental Contaminants in Fish

  • Americans do not eat enough fish to cause concern.
    • Average consumption: 4 ounces of seafood per week.
    • Around 80% is shrimp, canned tuna, salmon, and white fish, which are low in environmental contaminants.

Food Safety: Setting the Stage

  • Earlier stages of North America:
    • Contaminated water and food, especially milk, responsible for outbreaks of devastating diseases.
    • Led to processes of pasteurization, purifying water, and sewage treatment.
  • Greatest health risks from food today are viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites.
  • Foodborne illness affects about one in six Americans each year.

Effects of Foodborne Illness

  • In the United States, each year, the CDC reports foodborne illness causes:
    • 50 million illnesses.
    • 130,000 hospitalizations.
    • 3,000 deaths.
  • Most susceptible:
    • Infants and children.
    • Older adults.
    • Those with liver disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, cancer.
    • Patients recovering from surgery.
    • Pregnant women.
    • People taking immunosuppressant agents.

FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

  • Strengthened food safety system of FDA.
  • New tools for inspection, compliance, and holding imported foods to the same standards as domestic foods.
  • Directs the FDA to build a national food-safety system that is integrated and in partnership with state and local authorities.
  • Several government agencies are at work on problems regarding food safety.
  • CDC established National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) to alert the public of outbreaks.

Why Foodborne Illness Is So Common?

  • Prolonged shelf-life of foods.
  • Preference for “rare” meat and other undercooked foods.
  • More foods prepared in kitchens outside the home.
  • Imported ready-to-eat foods.
  • Centralized food production.
  • Use of antibiotics in animal feeds.
  • Use of immunosuppressant medications.
  • Increase in the number of older adults.

Foodborne Illness and Antibiotic Resistance

  • Animals are given antibiotics to prevent disease and increase feed efficiency.
  • A “withdrawal” period is required to ensure birds are free from antibiotic residues before slaughter.
  • A sample of these turkeys will be tested at slaughter for residues.
  • Scientists are paying attention to resistant bacteria in food-producing animals.

Food Preservation—Past, Present, and Future

Historic Food Preservation Techniques

  • Salt, sugar: Bind and reduce water available to microorganisms.
  • Smoke: Heat kills microbes; chemicals in the smoke act as preservatives; water evaporates through drying.
  • Fermentation: Bacteria or yeast makes acids and alcohol; minimizes growth of other bacteria and yeast.
  • Drying: Evaporates water.

Magnificent Microbiome: Fermented Foods

  • Fermentation: Can result in foods with live, probiotic organisms.
  • Kefir and yogurt:
    • Deliver most beneficial bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract.
    • Have probiotic capabilities associated with reduced inflammation and improved gut health.
    • Most cheeses and non-heated kimchi and sauerkraut, kombucha, miso, and some pickles provide large numbers of live probiotic bacteria.
  • Beer and wine: Microbes are filtered out of the finished product.

Food Preservation Techniques

Modern Food Preservation Techniques

  • Pasteurization: Moderately high (62°C to 100°C) temperatures are used for about 15 to 30 minutes to inactivate enzymes and kill microorganisms, especially in milk.
  • Refrigeration: Household refrigeration (typically at or below 40°F) slows down the deteriorative effects of microorganisms and enzymes.
  • Freezing: Freezing stops the growth of microorganisms, which do not grow when the temperature of food is below 15°F.
  • Canning: Food is heated in containers to a temperature that destroys microorganisms. Heating also causes air to be driven out of the container, forming a vacuum seal.
  • Chemical preservation: Preservation is usually based on the combined or synergistic activity of several additives. Certain preservatives have been used for centuries and include salt, sugar, acids, alcohols, and components of smoke. Some other chemicals used include sulfur dioxide, benzoic acid, sorbic acid, and formic acid.
  • Irradiation: Radiation energy passes through food and controls growth of insects, bacteria, fungi, and parasites by breaking chemical bonds, destroying cell walls and cell membranes, destroying DNA.
  • Sterilization: aseptic processing: Food and package are sterilized separately before the food enters the package.
  • Sterilization: ultrahigh temperature processing: Food is sterilized by heating it above 375°F (135°C) for 2 to 5 seconds.

Food Irradiation

  • Does not make food radioactive.
  • Breaks down chemical bonds, cell walls, and DNA.
  • Energy passes through the food, and no radioactive residues are left behind.
  • FDA approved for use with eggs (still in the shell), seeds, meats, spices, dry vegetable seasonings, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • Radura symbol required.

Bacteria and Foodborne Illness

  • Bacteria can cause foodborne illness in three ways:
    • Foodborne infection: Foodborne bacteria directly invade the intestinal wall.
    • Toxin-mediated infection: Foodborne bacteria produce harmful toxins as they colonize the GI tract.
    • Foodborne intoxication: Bacteria secrete a toxin into food before it is eaten.

Bacteria Proliferation

  • Bacteria require nutrients, water, and warmth.
    • Most grow best in the danger zone temperatures of 40°F to 140°F.
    • Pathogenic bacteria don’t multiply above 140°F.
    • Don’t multiply if stored below 32°F to 40°F.
    • Listeria can multiply at fridge temperatures.
    • High temperatures kill bacteria but don’t deactivate toxins.
    • Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium perfringens grow only in anaerobic environments.

Bacterial Causes of Foodborne Illness

Clostridium botulinum

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Improperly canned foods, especially home-canned vegetables.
    • Fermented fish.
    • Improperly stored baked potatoes.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 12 to 72 hours.
    • Symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, blurred vision, double vision, difficulty swallowing, muscle weakness; can result in respiratory failure and death.
    • Duration: Variable; days to weeks.

Escherichia coli

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Undercooked beef (especially hamburger).
    • Unpasteurized milk and juice.
    • Raw fruits and vegetables (such as sprouts).
    • Contaminated water.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 1 to 8 days.
    • Symptoms: Severe (often bloody) diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Usually little or no fever is present. More common in children 4 years or younger. Can lead to kidney failure.
    • Duration: 5 to 10 days.

Listeria monocytogenes

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk.
    • Ready-to-eat deli meats.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 9 to 48 hours for gastrointestinal symptoms, 2 to 6 weeks for invasive disease, 14 to 42 days for severe symptoms.
    • Symptoms: Fever, muscle aches, and nausea or diarrhea. During pregnancy, women may have mild flu-like illness, and infection can lead to preterm delivery or stillbirth.
    • Duration: Days to weeks.

Salmonella species

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Eggs, poultry, meat.
    • Unpasteurized milk or juice.
    • Cheese. Contaminated raw fruits and vegetables.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 6 to 48 hours.
    • Symptoms: Diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, vomiting. Can be fatal in infants, the elderly, and those with impaired immune systems.
    • Duration: 4 to 7 days.

Staphylococcus aureus

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Unrefrigerated or improperly refrigerated meats, potato and egg salads, and cream pastries.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 1 to 6 hours.
    • Symptoms: Sudden onset of severe nausea and vomiting. Abdominal cramps. Diarrhea and fever may be present.
    • Duration: 24 to 48 hours.

Viruses

  • Viruses can reproduce only after invading body cells, such as intestinal cells.
  • Hard to test for viral infections, no easy test
  • Norovirus
    • Number one pathogen contributing to domestically acquired foodborne illnesses.
    • Sudden onset, cause of over 90% of diarrheal outbreaks on cruise ships.
    • Hardy, survive freezing, relatively high temps, chlorination.
    • Causes illness in long-term care facilities.

Viral Causes of Foodborne Illness

Hepatitis A virus

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Raw produce.
    • Contaminated drinking water.
    • Uncooked foods and cooked foods that are not reheated after contact with an infected food handler.
    • Shellfish from contaminated waters.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 15 to 50 days.
    • Symptoms: Diarrhea, dark urine, jaundice, and flu-like symptoms (such as fever, headache, nausea, and abdominal pain).
    • Duration: Variable 2 weeks up to 3 months.

Norovirus

  • Typical Food Sources:
    • Raw produce.
    • Contaminated drinking water.
    • Uncooked foods and cooked foods that are not reheated after contact with an infected food handler.
    • Shellfish from contaminated waters.
  • Illness:
    • Onset: 12 to 48 hours.
    • Symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, fever, headache. Diarrhea is more prevalent in adults, and vomiting is more common in children.
    • Duration: 12 to 60 hours.

Magnificent Microbiome: Norovirus

  • Animal studies have shown that some cells in the gut microbiome:
    • Enhance norovirus replication.
    • Provide a safe haven that allows some people to remain contagious for weeks, even after symptoms dissipate.
  • Scientists are investigating ways to manipulate the gut environment or microbiome itself to stimulate the immune system to shut down norovirus infection.

COVID CORNER

  • COVID-19 is not spread from food or packaging.
  • Coronaviruses
    • Cannot multiply in food.
    • Only survive and multiply in a live animal or human host.
    • Transmitted through person-to-person contact and through direct contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze.
  • Outbreaks of COVID-19:
    • Traced only to contact with other people and not from eating contaminated food.
  • Keep eating fruits and vegetables and wash them under running water.
  • No need to disinfect food packaging.
  • Always wash hands after handling food packages and before eating.

Protozoan and Helminth Parasites

  • Live in or on a host organism.
  • Humans serve as hosts.
  • Hardest hit in tropical countries with poor sanitation.
  • More than 80 parasites known to affect humans.
    • Protozoa: one-celled animals, Cryptosporidium and Cyclospora.
    • Helminths: tapeworms, Trichinella spiralis.
  • Spread person-to-person, contaminated food, water, and soil.

Food Additives

  • Additives: Substances added to foods, either directly or indirectly.
  • Both are regulated by the FDA.
    • Direct food additives: Intentionally added to the food (More than 3,900 substances).
    • Indirect food additives: incidentally added as contaminants such as pesticide residues (As many as 3,200 substances).
  • Sugar, salt, corn syrup, and citric acid constitute 98% of all additives (by weight) used in food processing.

Why Are Food Additives Used?

  • Reduce food spoilage.
  • Prevent undesirable changes in color and flavor.
  • Increase safety of food distribution.
  • Reduce the activity of enzymes that can change the flavor and color of food.
  • Preservatives: Extend the shelf life of foods; acidic or alkaline agents, antioxidants, antimicrobials, curing and pickling agents.

The GRAS List

  • Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act-
    • Requires substances intentionally added to food to be reviewed and approved by FDA unless recognized as safe.
  • 1958 U.S. Congress established the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list.
  • Manufacturers do not have to prove the safety of GRAS substances.
  • FDA is responsible for proving substances do not belong on the GRAS list.
  • Synthetic chemical is the same as the natural form.

Synthetic Chemicals

  • Natural products are not inherently safer than synthetic products.
  • Many synthetics are laboratory copies of chemicals occurring in nature.
  • Some cancer researchers say we ingest 10,000 times more toxins produced by plants than synthetic pesticides.
  • Toxicity is related to dosage.
  • Well-known, commonly used chemicals can be toxic in some circumstances and at some concentrations.

Tests of Food Additives for Safety

  • Tested on at least two animal species for safety.
  • Determine the highest dose producing no observable effects.
  • Establish a margin of safety for human use. The maximum dosage that produced no observable effects is then divided by at least 100.
  • Delaney Clause:
    • Prohibits the direct addition to foods of a substance that causes cancer.
    • If the additive is shown to cause cancer, even at a very low dose, it is taken off the market by FDA.

Some Important Terms Used by Toxicologists

  • Toxicology: Scientific study of harmful substances.
  • Safety: Relative certainty that the substance will not cause injury.
  • Hazard: Chance that injury will result from the use of a substance.
  • Toxicity: Capacity of a substance to produce injury or illness at some dosage.

Approval for a New Food Additive

  • Manufacturers must give FDA information that:
    • Identifies the new additive.
    • Gives its chemical composition.
    • States how it is manufactured.
    • Specifies how the amount is measured in the food supply.
    • Provides proof of safety.
    • Outlines its intended purpose.

Types of Food Additives

Acidic or alkaline agents

  • Attributes: Acids impart a tart taste to foods; inhibit mold growth; lessen discoloration and rancidity; reduce the risk of botulism in naturally low-acid vegetables. Alkaline agents improve flavor by neutralizing acids produced during fermentation.
  • Health Risks: No known health risks when used properly.

Nonnutritive sweeteners

  • Attributes: Sweeten foods without adding more than a few calories.
  • Health Risks: Moderate use is considered safe (except for the use of aspartame by people with the disease PKU).

Anticaking agents

  • Attributes: Absorb moisture to keep salt and powdered food products free-flowing.
  • Health Risks: No known health risks when used properly.

Antimicrobial agents

  • Attributes: Inhibit mold and fungal growth.
  • Health Risks: Salt increases the risk of developing hypertension, especially in sodium-sensitive individuals.

Antioxidants

  • Attributes: Delay food discolorations from oxygen exposure; reduce rancidity from the breakdown of fats; maintain the color of deli meats; prevent the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines.
  • Health Risks: Approximately 10% of people have a sulfite intolerance. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, wheezing, hives, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramps, and dizziness. Sulfites are used as preservatives in some foods and beverages.

Color additives

  • Attributes: Make foods more visually appealing.
  • Health Risks: Tartrazine (FD&C yellow number 5) can cause allergic symptoms such as hives and nasal discharge, especially in people allergic to aspirin. FDA requires all forms of synthetic colors used in a food to be listed on its label.

Curing and pickling agents

  • Attributes: Act as preservatives, especially to prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum; often used in conjunction with salt.
  • Health Risks: Salt increases the risk of developing hypertension, especially in sodium-sensitive individuals.

Emulsifiers

  • Attributes: Suspend fat in water to improve uniformity, smoothness, and body of foods, such as baked goods, ice cream, and mayonnaise.
  • Health Risks: No known health risks when used properly.

Fat replacements

  • Attributes: Limit calorie content of foods by reducing some of the fat content.
  • Health Risks: Possible loss of fat-soluble vitamins and GI side effects if used in excess.

Flavor and flavoring agents

  • Attributes: Impart more or improve the flavor of foods.
  • Health Risks: Sugar and corn syrup can increase the risk for dental caries. Possible weight gain from excess calories.

Flavor enhancers

  • Attributes: Help bring out the natural flavor of foods, such as meats.
  • Health Risks: Some people (especially infants) are sensitive to the glutamate in MSG and after exposure experience flushing, chest pain, facial pressure, dizziness, sweating, rapid heart rate, nausea, vomiting, an increase in blood pressure, and headache.

Leavening agents

  • Attributes: Introduce carbon dioxide into food products.
  • Health Risks: No known health risk when used properly.

Nutrient supplements

  • Attributes: Enhance the nutrient content of foods such as margarine, milk, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.
  • Health Risks: No known health risk if intake from such supplemental sources combined with other natural food sources of a nutrient does not exceed the UL set for a particular nutrient.

Sequestrants

  • Attributes: Bind free ions to prevent them from causing rancidity in products containing fat.
  • Health Risks: No known health risk when used properly.

Stabilizers and thickeners

  • Attributes: Impart a smooth texture and uniform color and flavor to candies, frozen desserts, chocolate milk, and beverages containing alternative sweeteners; prevent evaporation and deterioration of flavorings used in cakes, puddings, and gelatin mixes.
  • Health Risks: No known health risk when used properly.

Natural Substances That Can Cause Illness

  • Avidin (Raw egg whites): Binds biotin.
  • Mushroom toxins (Some species of mushrooms): Liver, kidney failure, coma, death.
  • Oxalic acid (Spinach, strawberries): Binds calcium, iron.
  • Safrole (Sassafras, mace, nutmeg): Cancer.
  • Senna or comfrey (Herbal teas): Diarrhea, liver damage.
  • Solanine (Potato shoots and flesh exposed to light): Inhibits neurotransmitters.
  • Tetrodotoxin (Puffer fish): Respiratory paralysis.
  • Thiaminase (Raw clams and mussels): Destroys thiamin.

Is Caffeine a Cause for Concern?

  • Stimulant in natural form or as added ingredient.
    • 64% of caffeine intake is from coffee.
    • 16% is from tea.
    • 18% is from soft drinks.
    • Less than 1% is from energy drinks.
  • Does not accumulate in the body.
  • A cup of tea typically contains half the amount of caffeine as coffee.

Potential Harmful Effects of Caffeine

  • High doses cause:
    • Anxiety, increased heart rate, insomnia, increased urination, and diarrhea.
    • Gastrointestinal upset, worsens ulcers and heartburn, relaxes sphincters.
    • Mildly increases calcium excreted in urine.
  • Withdrawal symptoms:
    • Headache, nausea, depression for a short time.
    • Tapering off over a few days may avoid these problems.
  • Heavy use increases blood pressure for a short period.
  • Increases LDL and triglycerides in blood (caused by cafestol and kahweol, two oils in ground coffee).

Beneficial Effects of Coffee Consumption

  • Coffee consumption is:
    • Effective for treating migraines.
    • Likely effective for improving mental alertness.
    • Possibly effective for improving memory, pain, Parkinson’s disease, athletic performance, and glucose metabolism in diabetes.
  • A prudent dose of caffeine is 200 to 300 milligrams (about 2 to 3 cups of regular, brewed coffee) per day.

USDA Food Safety Program

  • Simplified rules of foodborne illness prevention into four actions:
    • Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often.
    • Separate: Don’t cross-contaminate.
    • Cook: Cook to proper temperatures.
    • Chill: Refrigerate promptly.

Purchasing Food

  • Buy frozen and perishable foods last.
  • Place meats in separate plastic bags.
  • Do not buy food from damaged containers.
  • Buy only pasteurized milk and cheese.
  • Buy only enough produce for 1 week.
  • Avoid buying slimy, brownish, or dry produce.
  • Observe sell-by, expiration dates.
  • Follow food recalls.

Preparing Food

  • Wash hands thoroughly (20 sec).
  • Keep counters, cutting boards, and equipment clean and sanitized.
  • Prepare raw meat separately from raw vegetables.
  • Don’t follow the 5-second rule for foods on the floor.
  • Thaw foods in the refrigerator, cold running water, or microwave.
  • Avoid coughing and sneezing over food.
  • Wash fruits/vegetables thoroughly.
  • Remove mold or discard food.
  • Use refrigerated meat in 1 to 2 days; frozen in 3 to 4 months.

Cooking Food

  • Thoroughly cook meat, fish, poultry, and eggs.
    • Beef, fish, and pork (145°F); poultry (165°F)
  • Check for doneness with a thermometer.
  • Cook sprouts until steaming.
  • Cook stuffing separately.
  • Once cooked, consume food right away.
  • Store leftovers within 1 to 2 hours.
  • Serve cooked meat on clean plates.
  • For outdoor cooking, cook food completely at the picnic site, with no partial cooking in advance.

Storing and Reheating Cooked Foods

  • Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold (under 40°F or above 140°F).
  • Reheat leftovers thoroughly (165°F).
  • Store peeled, cut-up produce in the refrigerator.
  • Keep leftovers in the refrigerator only for the recommended length of time.
  • Keep refrigerator under 40°F.
  • During a power outage, keep the freezer/fridge door closed.