Experts explain how to avoid getting sick when preparing food in the spring and summer.

Spring has arrived, and with it the hallowed ritual of the backyard barbecue. For an unlucky few there will be some serious aftereffects: the stomachaches, vomiting, or even hospitalization that can result from eating spoiled potato salad or an undercooked hamburger.

The CDC estimates that 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths result from food-borne illness each year. The rate of illness tends to increase in the warmer months, in part due to picnics and barbecues, CDC researcher Elaine Scallan tells WebMD.

The good news this spring is a new study suggesting that Americans are wising up to the effects of eating risky foods. After conducting two national telephone surveys in 1998 and 2002 asking what people had eaten in the past week, researchers found that the percent eating one or more foods labeled "risky" in the past week declined from 31% in 1998 to 21% in 2002.

Media Campaigns

Researcher Erica Weis, MPH, of California's health services department, suggests that public health campaigns and media coverage of outbreaks may be responsible for the decline.

But there was room for improvement in certain groups. Among Asians and Pacific Islanders, the number eating risky foods was 32%. Research has found this group is more likely to eat raw fish or raw shellfish, Weis tells WebMD.

Risky-food consumption also appeared to be higher among children with compromised immune systems than among healthy children. The finding is worrying because an infection that could cause just a stomachache in a healthy person could hospitalize or even kill those with weakened immune systems.

The reason for this finding hasn't been studied. Perhaps sick kids want to eat the same things as their peers, Weis says. Or the finding may be due to the study design; parents answered surveys for their children, and the parents of sick children may keep closer tabs on what their children ate.

Risky Foods to Watch Out For

The researchers based their list of "risky" foods on studies of recent outbreaks. Here's the list:

* Pink hamburgers
* Pink ground beef
* Raw fresh fish
* Raw oysters
* Raw or unpasteurized milk
* Alfalfa sprouts
* Runny eggs

Undercooked eggs were the most commonly eaten risky food. That includes eggs served sunny-side up as well as raw eggs used in preparation of hollandaise sauce, meringue, Caesar salad dressing, and the like.

Food safety authorities have long steered people away from sunny-side-up, soft-boiled, or "over- easy" eggs, all of which carry the risk of salmonella. If you must eat runny eggs or use them in recipes, Weis suggests you buy pasteurized eggs, which have been briefly heated to destroy bacteria. They are available -- typically at a small premium -- at many supermarkets. If you're ordering sunny-side-up eggs at a restaurant, ask if they're pasteurized, she suggests.

Risky Take-Home Food

Food safety experts are keeping an eye on some worrying trends in food consumption. One is the growing preference for unprocessed "natural" foods available at farmers' markets. While many of these foods may be very healthy, unpasteurized dairy products and juices are more likely to carry a variety of nasty bacteria, experts say. "You can have fresh and locally-produced food that is also safe," Scallan says, "and safe food means pasteurized milk and juices."

Another trend: Buying prepared food from supermarkets and then bringing it home for the family. It's dangerous to leave perishable food at room temperature for more than two hours, notes Shelly Feist of the nonprofit Partnership for Food Safety Education. That window shortens considerably when temperatures are higher -- such as when a prepared meal is placed in a hot car. So be sure to eat prepared food soon after purchasing it, Feist says.

Food Safety in the Outdoors

The warm weather that makes springtime so inviting also creates an ideal breeding environment for bacteria and other pathogens found in food. Here's some advice from The Partnership for Food Safety Education on how to apply food-safety tips to the out-of-doors:

* Clean. Wash your hands --as well as utensils, cutting boards, and countertops -- in hot soapy water before and after preparing each food item. Also wash produce, which can carry harmful bacteria. As easy as these directives can be to ignore while in the kitchen, it's even easier when you're outside and playing with the dog, with the Frisbee, or with your baby niece, Feist notes. Don't drop your guard!

* Separate.Sure, it's tempting to pour that sauce you used to marinate raw burgers or chicken wings onto the cooked food. It's also tempting to place the cooked grub back onto the plate that held your raw meat. Don't give in! Always keep raw meat and its juices separate from cooked food. If you want to reuse that sauce, then boil it first.

* Cook.It's the best way to kill bad bugs. When grilling, preheat the coals on your grill for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the coals are lightly coated with ash. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that hamburgers and red meats are cooked to 160 degrees and ground poultry to 165 degrees. Poultry breast should be cooked to 170 degrees; dark meat (wings and thighs) should be cooked to 180 degrees. Poultry juices should run clear. Fish should be opaque and flaky.

* Chill.No, this doesn't refer to what you do after breaking open a Bud at the barbecue. Bacteria grow quickly at room temperature and even faster under the hot sun. So refrigerate meat while it marinates, and keep that potato salad in a cooler that's well-packed with ice or freezer packs.

專家解釋如何在溫暖的春季夏季準(zhǔn)備食物時(shí)，避免其腐敗和變質(zhì)。

伴隨著春季的來(lái)臨，人們用后院的燒烤聚餐來(lái)慶祝它的到來(lái)。非常不幸的是燒烤可能帶來(lái)嚴(yán)重的后遺癥，比如腹痛，嘔吐，甚至住院治療等疾病，都可能是因?yàn)槭秤昧俗冑|(zhì)馬鈴薯沙拉或一個(gè)未烹飪熟的漢堡包。

疾病預(yù)防控制中心研究員伊萊恩告訴記者，據(jù)該中心估計(jì)，每年有325000人因食物傳染的疾病住院，其中5000人死亡。患病率在天氣溫暖的月份呈上升趨勢(shì)。其中部分原因正是野餐和燒烤。

今年春天有一個(gè)好消息：一項(xiàng)新的研究表明，美國(guó)人正在降低使用“危險(xiǎn)”食物的影響程度。在1998年和2002年進(jìn)行的兩次全國(guó)電話調(diào)查中，調(diào)查研究了人們過(guò)去一周中的飲食情況。研究人員從中發(fā)現(xiàn)，食用“危險(xiǎn)”食物的比率由1998年的31 ％下降到年2002年的21 ％。

媒體宣傳

加州衛(wèi)生服務(wù)部的埃里卡維斯碩士研究員，表示面向公眾的健康宣傳活動(dòng)和媒體報(bào)道的可能是上述概率下降原因。

但此類情況在某些群體還有改進(jìn)的空間。比如，亞洲人和太平洋島民，食用“危險(xiǎn)”食品的概率為32 ％ 。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，這組群體更可能食用到生魚片或生貝類。

“危險(xiǎn)”食物消費(fèi)在免疫功能較弱的兒童群體食用比例要高于在健康兒童群體。令人擔(dān)憂的研究顯示，由“危險(xiǎn)”食物帶來(lái)的腸胃感染，可能給一個(gè)健康人帶來(lái)的僅僅是腹部疼痛，而卻有可能引發(fā)那些免疫功能較弱群體的住院治療或者危及生命。

上述現(xiàn)象的原因還沒(méi)有被科學(xué)證實(shí)。維斯研究員推測(cè)，有可能生病的孩子對(duì)“危險(xiǎn)”食物并不排斥，或者發(fā)現(xiàn)與調(diào)查設(shè)計(jì)有關(guān)，由于孩子的父母代替孩子回答調(diào)查問(wèn)題，或者父母密切關(guān)注他們的飲食。

“危險(xiǎn)”食物的識(shí)別與提防

研究人員根據(jù)其對(duì)“危險(xiǎn)食品”的研究，列出了最近容易暴發(fā)和常見的食物。清單如下：

* 未加工熟的漢堡包
* 未加工熟的牛排
* 生鮮魚類
* 生鮮貝類
* 生鮮或未經(jīng)高溫消毒的牛奶
* 豆芽等發(fā)芽菜
* 未加工熟的流體狀的雞蛋

未加工的雞蛋是最常見的食用風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。這些食品包括只煎一面的雞蛋以及用生雞蛋制作的醬油、蛋白、凱撒大帝沙拉醬等。

食品安全當(dāng)局長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)指導(dǎo)人們遠(yuǎn)離單面煎、軟煮熟、“帶生”雞蛋等食品，所有這些雞蛋食品都攜帶沙門氏菌的致病風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。如果你必須吃流狀雞蛋或使用其作為食譜，魏絲研究員建議你購(gòu)買巴氏殺菌雞蛋，這些雞蛋已經(jīng)簡(jiǎn)要加熱并破壞了細(xì)菌。他們通常在很多超級(jí)市場(chǎng)都有小的溢價(jià)銷售。如果您在一家餐廳點(diǎn)了單面煎蛋，請(qǐng)問(wèn)他們是否有消毒處理。

外帶食品的衛(wèi)生安全風(fēng)險(xiǎn)

食品安全專家正在密切關(guān)注一些令人擔(dān)憂的食品消費(fèi)趨勢(shì)。其中之一是人們?cè)絹?lái)越傾向于在農(nóng)貿(mào)市場(chǎng)購(gòu)買未處理未加工的“天然”食品。雖然許多這些食品可能會(huì)非常健康，但專家說(shuō)它們（未經(jīng)奶制品和果汁）更有可能攜帶各種細(xì)菌。“你可以把新鮮和當(dāng)?shù)厣�產(chǎn)的食品帶回家，但安全的食物必須是巴氏奶和果汁”Scallan專家提醒。

另一個(gè)趨勢(shì)是人們開始習(xí)慣購(gòu)買已加工或已準(zhǔn)備好的食品，把它帶回家食用。我們?cè)谥x利法伊斯特非營(yíng)利伙伴關(guān)系的食品安全教育提示中發(fā)現(xiàn)：易腐食品暴露在室溫下超過(guò)兩小時(shí)以上具有很高的食用致病風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，這類食品銷售窗口忽視了溫度較高情況下的食品保鮮——例如當(dāng)外帶飯菜放置在一個(gè)炎熱的汽車內(nèi)時(shí)。所以專家法伊斯特建議一定在準(zhǔn)備食用食物時(shí)，再購(gòu)買。

戶外野餐的食品衛(wèi)生安全

在溫暖的春天，為室外飲食滋生細(xì)菌和其他病原體提供了氣溫條件和環(huán)境。下面是一些咨詢意見，伙伴關(guān)系的食品安全教育，為您說(shuō)明如何注意戶外飲食的食品安全問(wèn)題：

* 清潔。洗手-以及餐具，砧板，和臺(tái)面-用熱肥皂水在烹飪前和食用前后清洗上述每個(gè)物品。清洗各種可攜帶有害細(xì)菌的生鮮食物。法伊斯特提示，像在您廚房里一樣不要忽視清潔，尤其是當(dāng)您在外面玩狗、飛盤、或與您的寶寶侄女玩耍后。一定不要放棄你的衛(wèi)生防護(hù)！

* 分離。醬油原料用來(lái)腌雞翅膀漢堡包或熟食是誘人的美味。同樣人們?nèi)菀装阎笫斓氖澄锓呕厥⒂猩�肉的盤子。不要混入！始終保持生肉及其果汁熟食分開。如果你想重復(fù)使用的醬油，然后再次食用它前要先煮熟一次。

* 烹調(diào)。這是最好的殺死細(xì)菌的方式。當(dāng)燒烤時(shí)，預(yù)熱炭煤20到30分鐘，或直至煤是輕輕涂有炭灰。使用肉類溫度計(jì)，以確保漢堡包和紅肉煮熟到160度，家禽至165度。家禽乳腺癌病菌的完全殺滅應(yīng)煮熟到170度；深色肉（翅膀和大腿）應(yīng)煮熟至180度。家禽果汁應(yīng)明確分開烹調(diào)。魚應(yīng)該烹調(diào)到不透明的片狀。

* 冷卻。這并非指你在開始燒烤后再去做什么。因?yàn)椋��?xì)菌在室溫條件下繁殖迅速，而在炎熱的太陽(yáng)下就更是如此。因此，冷藏肉類需要進(jìn)行事先腌制 ，同時(shí)保持馬鈴薯沙拉在涼爽的擠滿了冰或冷凍包裝內(nèi)儲(chǔ)存。