Food Safety while Shopping at the Grocery Store

Food Poisoning Have you ever eaten something that didn't agree with you, or had a mild touch of the flu? Whenever tummies feel a little nauseous, people are quick to assume that they've pick up a bug or a 24 hour virus. What they really may be suffering from is a mild case of food poisoning.

Symptoms The symptoms of food poisoning are quite similar to the flu. Symptoms can include a gripping feeling of the stomach, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea along with chills and fever. Because food poisoning often doesn't appear until up to 12 hours after eating tainted food, people usually don't associate these flu-like symptoms with something they've eaten.

Keeping food the proper temperature is one way to avoid food poisoning. Wash hands while handling food. Prevent bacteria from raw foods from transferring to ready-to-eat foods.

Shopping Cart Handles are Germ Colonies Several years ago, a couple of kids in a 4-H group took culture swabs from a number of surfaces in a neighborhood grocery store, from the bathrooms down to the cash registers. Everyone, including the store director was eager to learn the results of their experiment. Guess which surface had the most bacteria? Yep, the handles of a grocery cart.

You should remember this every time you eat something from the service deli with unwashed hands or let your toddler gnaw on the handles.

Most stores now have sanitizing wipes at the store entrances to scrub down the handles before shopping. This is a good practice to follow even if you don't eat while grocery shopping. Those nasty germs can transfer from the shopping cart handles directly to the food we grab from the shelves, including produce which we handle with our bare hands.

Buy refrigerated and frozen food items last In 70 degrees, food can start spoiling in two hours. A shopper can reduce the chances of food poisoning by purchasing non-perishables first and leaving the refrigerated and frozen perishables for the very last.

Avoid cross contamination Would you drink the thawing juices from a raw chicken or pot roast? Probably not intentionally. At my neighborhood market, the meat department is the last section of the store that shoppers visit, who will often toss their meat packages on top of the other groceries. As these meat products start to warm up, they will drip raw juices onto the rest of the groceries in the cart.

When it comes to meat, these items should be double bagged in the plastic produce bags provided near the counters. Most stores also carry sanitizing spray near the meat counters so customers can wash their hands after handling meat products. If your store doesn't provide this little surface, bring towelettes or hand sanitizer from home.

Check the temperature of the container Store clerks are always restocking the food on the shelves and occasionally will put something on the shelf that is partial thawed or is slightly warm to the touch. You can lower the risk of food poisoning by choosing only those items that are fully frozen or cold to the touch, and avoiding foods that are starting to thaw.

Pack similar food items together If you shop at a self service grocery store, take care to pack similar food items together to avoid cross contamination. Pack those raw meat products in a plastic grocery bag and keep them separate from the rest of the groceries.

Perishable dairy items and frozen non-meat items should also be packed together in a separate paper sack. This helps keep the groceries cool until you can bring them home.

Put away your groceries immediately Grocery shopping should always be the last errand on your list, with perishables put into the refrigerator or freezer immediately.

Food safety and food poisoning is not something to be taken lightly, and is much more common than people think.

Most healthy adults have a strong enough immune system to weather the effects of a mild case of food poisoning Individuals with lower immune systems such as infants, the elderly, the homeless, pregnant women, and the chronically ill will feel the effects of food poisoning much more severely.