Last year at around this time I wrote on article on barbecue safety - specifically how to avoid the various pyrotechnics and explosions that accompany this popular summer past-time.
I related a personal story where a porch awning, two eyebrows and several burgers and hot dogs, and a post-baseball garden party were ruined by the rupture of a fuel line. To this day, I crank on the gas, drop in a match and run for my life, ready to ride the explosion Bruce Willis-style if I have to. I don't stop running until I hear the "Foom".
I also touched briefly on the topic of barbecue-related food poisoning and the real dangers of dirty cutting boards, re-used marinades, undercooked meats, and soiled aprons, among others. In this column, I'd like to go into a little more depth - improper food handling can result in unscheduled trips to the bathroom, serious illness, and in some extreme cases, death.
Every day in the U.S. about 16,000 people get sick and 25 people die from something they ate. One out of every four chickens and one out of every seven turkeys has enough salmonella in them to make you sick, or even kill you. About one per cent of cattle are also infected.
Anywhere between 350 and 2,500 Americans die every year from salmonella and even then, according to the Nutrition Action Health Letter, the majority of cases go unreported.
The effects of campylobacter bacteria are even less closely monitored than salmonella, but the general consensus is that it sickens more people than salmonella. There's no way to tell how many deaths - medical laboratories and autopsy's don't test for campylobacter. The only conclusive evidence, according to the Center for Disease control in Atlanta - the same lab featured in the movie Outbreak - is that campylobacter is "the most frequently isolated foodborne bacterium from persons with diarrhea."
Salmonella enteritidis, the strain of salmonella that is most likely to affect eggs, causes between 200,000 and one million infections every year. Once again, there are no actual figures for deaths.
While many people have started washing their eggs, most tainted eggs are contaminated within the hens' ovaries before their shells even form.
E. coli bacteria is a usual suspect in food poisoning these days, especially after seven deaths and 2,300 poisonings in Walkerton, Ontario, in May of 2000. While the E. coli was transported through the water system and it can occur naturally in swampy areas, the Walkerton outbreak occurred when torrential rains washed infected cattle manure into a shallow town well.
Beef and E. coli go hand-in-hand, although other organisms can be infected as well.
In 1993, in Washington state, California, Idaho and Nevada, an E. coli outbreak from undercooked fast food hamburgers killed four children and sickened 700 others. E. coli O157:H7 - the specific type of bacteria to infect the fast food burgers - creates a deadly "Shiga toxin" that damages kidneys and causes bloody diarrhea. Death may occur in the event of a kidney failure.
E. coli usually lives on the outside of the meat, and can usually be killed with a surface temperature of 165 degrees Farenheit or 73.8 Celsius. Ground beef, however is a different story - you have to heat the inside to 73.8 degrees to be safe.
Other forms of E. coli other than O157:H7 can produce the Shiga toxin, but most food agencies only test meat for this one type.
Salmonella and E. coli are the major bacteria found in warm-blooded barbecue animals. Clostridium perfringens is less common, as is Listeria, but both can affect all meats, including fish, and various vegetables. Clostridium perfringens causes diarrhea, abdominal cramps and flatulence. Listeria can be transferred through dairy products, undercooked meat and poultry, and results in headache, fever and nausea It can lead to meningitis, cause miscarriages, and in extreme cases, kill you.
Botulism, or Clostridium botulinum, is fairly common in all foods, and produces toxins when it is deprived of oxygen, say in a Tupperware container with meat and marinade. It causes headaches, double-vision, the inability to swallow, speech difficulties, and progressive respiratory paralysis. The fatality rate is about 20 per cent.
Staphylococcus or Staph organisms generally occur on human skin and glands, but can be transferred to foods by touch, spit, sneeze - any contact. They breed whenever meat, poultry or eggs are kept at an improper temperature, and produce a toxin that causes the kind of food poisoning that comes out both ends. It can also be lethal.
Vibriosis is common in seawater, and can be found in seafood like oysters, crabs, clams and the same shrimp Crocodile Dundee throws on the barbie. It causes diarrhea, cramps, weakness, nausea, chills and headache.
Hepatitis A can be transferred through foods in extreme circumstances, usually by the touch of an infected or unsanitary person but sometimes it can exist in raw seafood. Hep A stays with you your whole life and can contribute to about 40 different symptoms including arthritis, depression, dizziness, swelling of the hands and feet, flu symptoms, gallstones, fever, headaches, indigestion, insomnia, and memory loss.
That said, it might be a good time to get a meat thermometer.
A medium rare steak should be heated to a minimum 160 F / 71.1 C. Well-done meat or ground beef should be 170 F / 76.6 C.
Veal should be heated to 170 F.
Lamb should be 170 F or 180 F / 82.2, depending on whether you're looking for medium or well done.
Fresh pork is okay to eat at 160 F. Raw ham and pork shoulder should be heated to 160 F, and fully cooked ham should be heated to 140 F / 60.0 C.
Chicken and turkey should be between 180 F and 185 F / 85.0 C to be safe, although you can get away with 170 F to 175 F for boneless turkey roast. If you're going to stuff your bird, you should make sure that the stuffing hits at least 165 F.
In the game category, bear, deer, elk and moose should be heated to between 160 F and 170 F. Rabbit, game birds and waterfowl should be heated between 180 F and 185 F.
Fish should be cooked to at least 140 F, and shellfish and should be cooked until it's chewy.
Because the way you handle your meat can make a huge difference, always treat raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs as if they were contaminated. Bacteria breed like viruses, and can populate food, barbecue accessories, our hands, or our clothing in a matter of hours. Don't let raw juices and blood touch other foods, and always wash your hands, utensils, and all surfaces that touched the raw food thoroughly with hot, soapy water.
Never eat shellfish unless it's thoroughly cooked - some people can get so sick off a single oyster that they think they're allergic.
Marinate raw meat and poultry in the refrigerator, not on the counter, and don't use your marinade to baste the meat while you're cooking it. Throw it out.
If you're making stuffing, put it in before you start to cook or it could soak up contaminated juices and won't reach a high enough temperature to kill the contamination. The best thing to do is to cook your poultry and stuffing separately.
Cook your meat thoroughly, but be careful not to overcook - heat kills bacteria, but too much heat causes meats to form possibly carcinogenic heterocyclic aromatic amines. Microwave your meat, poultry or fish on high for 30 to 90 seconds, or until the juice starts to flow, then pour off the juice before you barbecue.
If eggs figure into your diet, always cook until the whites are firm and the yolk is starting to thicken. Don't lick any batter than contains raw eggs.
Microwave your sponges on high for a minute to kill bacteria, and purchase antibacterial sponges, soaps and sprays to keep your kitchen, barbecue and barbecue instruments sterile.
Clean wooden and plastic cutting boards in the dishwasher, or microwave the wood board occasionally to kill the bacteria that it soaks up over time. Keep them clean until they get hacked up and then get rid of them.
Not to suck all the fun out of the family barbecue, but in the open air with the smell of the barbecue wafting into your face, it's hard to focus on anything but the food. You're also far enough away from your kitchen that you might not think to clean your implements every time, or to use different plates for transporting the meat to and from the barbecue.
If you just keep the basics in mind, however, you're home free. Because nothing wrecks a sunny day and a good barbecue more than diarrhea, headaches, vomiting, or flatulence.
