Whatever you’re celebrating this winter season, food most likely plays a key role, if not outright assuming the spotlight. Food especially stars in many memories from when very young to even just last season, after all remember that one dish from the office holiday party last year? But with all the food set out at the holidays, party throwers and party goers should be cautious about the way food is prepared and stored in order to minimize foodborne illnesses.
NPR recently covered a story on the surprising ingredient in commercial cookie dough that has been found to cause the feasters of the uncooked batter, which is flour. “’We didn’t conclusively implicate the flour,’ Karen Neil, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who investigated the outbreak, tells The Salt. But of all the ingredients, she says, flour seems most likely.” Read more of the story at NPR.org by clicking here.
The FDA has a downloadable PDF on food safety for consumers, which can be viewed by clicking here: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/UCM191812.pdf
While the Centers for Disease Control has provided several links on how to stay healthy this holiday season, which includes several tips for preparing and serving holiday food, as well as tips for managing the stress that often crops up around the holidays. Please click here to read more.
The US Department of Agriculture also has fact sheets on seasonal food safety. You can click here to find out more.