Consuming
Thoughts
by
Fay Stickler
Penn State Extension Home
Economist For Berks Co.
Perhaps you heard about the
people who were hospitalized af
ter eating undercooked hamburg
ers at a restaurant or school that
contained E. coli bacteria. There
also has been serious food-related
E. coli outbreaks across the United
Slates and in Canada, a number of
nursing home residents have died
from E. coli contaminated food.
People ask if this is the same E.
coli bacteria we’ve always consid
ered a harmless dweller in the in
testinal tract? The answer is yes
there are types of E. coli that live
peacefully in the human intestine.
They keep the growth of more
harmful organisms in check and
even produce some B vitamins for
us.
But there are other types of E.
coli that cause traveler’s diarrhea
and more serious diarrhea in
young children, particularly in the
Third World countries. And
there’s this other villain E. coli
0157:H7 that’s been causing a lot
of trouble.
This bacteria was first identi
fied by scientists in the early
1980 s when illness with bloody
stools was reported in people
who’d eaten undercooked ham
burgers from some fast food out
lets, this new bacterial strain has
emerged as even more trouble
some than some experts first
thought
E. coli - 0157:H7 is capable of
causing more serious disease than
most food borne bacteria and has
caused fatalities in the elderly. In
the very young, the elderly and the
immune deficient the complica
tions of infection with E. coli can
be quite serious.
People often ask how they get
the E. coli infections. Since thor
ough cooking kills this bacteria,
most cases have involved people
eating undercooked ground beef
or drinking unpasteurized milk.
Bacteria arc destroyed by-high
heat in normal pasteurization.
But when these E. coli bacteria
are consumed in food that hasn’t
been properly cooked or pasteur
ized, getting the illness is easy
roughly 30 to 60 percent of those
exposed get sick.
Symptoms like severe abdom
inal cramps, diarrhea which is of
ten bloody, nausea, vomiting and
a low fever may develop three to
four days after eating contaminat
ed food. The disease can last up to
10 days and because of its severity
often requires hospitalization.
The bacteria can travel through
animal-to-animal, meat animal-lo
human and human-to-human con
tacts. Therefore people can get
sick from contaminated raw food
of animal origin or, it seems like
ly, when infected food handlers
contaminate food eaten raw or un
dercooked.
While the bad news is that E.
coli causes food poisoning with
symptoms ranging from acute dis
comfort and diarrhea to kidney
failure and death, the good news is
that you can protect yourself.
The bacteria is killed by thor
ough cooking. So don’t ear rarc
in-thc-middle meats when you’re
out, and cook and handle food
carefully at home. This advice is
critically important for the young,
the elderly or anyone with a weak
ened immune system.
Protect Yourself at Home By
Observing These Rules:
1. Never drink raw milk. Use
pasteurized milk.
2. After shopping, quickly
freeze or refrigerate perishable
foods.
3. Use refrigerated ground meat
and patties in three to four days;
frozen meat and patties in three to
4 months.
4. Wash your hands, utensils
and work area with hot, soapy wa
ter after contact with raw meat and
meat patties.
5. Cook meat and patties until
very hot. The center should be
gray or brown. Juices should run
clear with no trace of pink. All
meat, poultry and fish should be
well cooked.
6. Serve cooked food with clean
plates and utensils.
7. Check package directions.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 14, 1999-B9
You might need to pie-heat the
oven or grill. Cook for required
time period. Cook covered if
directions call for that.
8. Microwave carefully. If your
oven is a lower wattage than what
is shown in the instructions, you’ll
need to cook food longer or at a
Examine
Income
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) —Farmers in search of an al
ternative crop or a blooming sour
ce of income can discover how to
start a cut-flower farming opera
tion by visiting Ag Progress Days,
sponsored by Penn State’s College
of Agricultural Sciences, Aug.
17-19.
Experts from the college’s de
partment of horticulture and Penn
State Cooperative Extension will
be on hand at the Cut-Flower De
monstration/Ask The Experts tent
on East 7th St to answer questions
and distribute literature on cut
flower operations. The event is
held at the university’s Russell E.
Larson Agricultural Research
Center at Rock Springs, near State
College.
“Cut flowers really have piqued
the interest of farmers and other
businessmen as a cash crop that
can be sold at farmer’s markets
and other outlets,” says Robert
Berghage, assistant professor of
horticulture. "The cash return on a
small, well-managed plot of flow
ers is a lot more than you would
get from an acre of com.”
The staff also will hold flower
arranging demonstrations using
flowers from the demonstration
plots at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily in
higher setting. Rotate food for
even cooking. Let food stand out
side the oven after cooking if so
directed. The food will finish
cooking as it stands.
9. Never thaw food on the coun
ter or let it sit out of the refrigera
tor over two hours!
Blooming
Source
the tent.
Berghage says the demonstra
tion area will showcase more than
90 flower varieties, including zin
nias, asters, celosia, sunflowers,
strawflowers and other annuals, as
well as several varieties of woody
plants used in the cut-flower mar
ket “We also will display some
unique flower varieties that are
not widely known on the market”
Berghage says.
Visitors can get fact sheets and
information on business oppor
tunities, weed control, budgeting
and crop handling.
Penn State’s Ag Progress Days
features more than 500 acres of
educational and commercial ex
hibits, tours and machinery de
monstrations. It is held at the Rus
sell E. Larson Agricultural Re
search Center at Rock Springs,
nine miles southwest of State Col
lege on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday,
with extended hours of 9 a.m. to 8
p.m. on Wednesday. Admission
and parking are free.
For more information, call
(800) PSU-1010 toll-free from
July 12 to August 19 or visit the
Ag Progress Days site on the
World Wide Web at
http://apd.cas.psu.edu.