The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is informing the public about the safety of imported enoki mushrooms and how to handle them to avoid illness. Several recalls of this type of mushroom have been issued in the past few years for possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Most recipes call for cooking these mushrooms, but some use them raw. Enoki mushrooms are a common commodity in Asian and their market has extended into Canada in recent years. Most of the raw enoki mushrooms for sale in Canada are imported from Asia. When you choose to use enoki mushrooms, make sure they are in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Never buy these types of mushrooms if they are not refrigerated. Then as soon as you get home, refrigerate them. Store them at 4°C (40°C) or … [Read more...]
Your Kitchen Sink is an Important Part of Food Safety
Your kitchen sink is an important part of food safety and preventing foodborne illness, according to the USDA. Think about everything you use your sink for: rinsing produce, cleaning pots, pans, plates, cups, and utensils, and discarding meat and produce scraps. All of those things can carry pathogenic bacteria. The USDA recently completed a study looking at how consumers handle food and how good they are at preventing cross-contamination. Participants prepared a meal with raw sausage, shell eggs, and a fruit salad made with cantaloupe. That study showed that the kitchen sink was the most cross-contaminated part of the kitchen at 34%. And 26% of samples of cut-up cantaloupe removed from the completed fruit salad was contaminated with bacteria. There are several ways this can … [Read more...]
