FRIDAY, Sept. 27, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Take a peek inside America's kitchens, and you're likely to see more people using meat thermometers and washing their hands after touching raw meat or poultry.
However, there's still lots of potentially dangerous pink hamburgers, raw fish and raw eggs being served up at our tables.
Those are the results of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new Food Safety Survey, a telephone survey of nearly 4,500 adults across the United States. The survey found an overall improvement in food safety practices from 1993 to 2001.
Still, there's lots of room for improvement.
"Although consumers report that they are more knowledgeable about food safety and have improved their safe food handling practices, in reality, some consumers are still using unsafe practices," says Elsa Murano, under-secretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which collaborated with the FDA on the research.
Those unsafe practices can give free rein to a host of food-borne germs -- including botulism, E. coli and salmonella -- that can produce health problems ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to death.
Among the survey findings:
- In 1993, 71 percent of people washed their hands after touching raw meat or chicken. In 2001, 85 percent did.
- In 1993, 34 percent said they washed their hands after cracking raw eggs. In 2001, 45 percent did.
- In 1993, 28 percent failed to wash the cutting board after using it for raw meat. In 2001, that number had fallen to 13 percent.
- The percentage of people eating pink hamburger, steak tartar and raw eggs was relatively stable, however. And more people reported eating raw clams, oysters and fish in 2001 than in 1998, the last time the survey was conducted.
While most of the news is encouraging, some food safety experts believe survey respondents may not be telling the whole truth.
Observational studies, in which people are actually watched as they prepare food, show unsafe food handling is more prevalent than a survey would suggest, says Dan Henroid, a food safety specialist at Iowa State University Extension.
"There's a big difference between what they report and what they do," Henroid says.
One example is hand-washing.
"When I wash my hands, I'm going to use soap and warm water," Henroid says. "I'm going to rub my hands for 20 seconds, use a single-service towel and not touch the faucet handle with my clean hands. Someone else might run their hands under cold water for a few seconds, and then use the dishtowel next to the sink."
Sound familiar?
Another concern of food safety experts is "cross-contamination," usually from mishandling raw meat, fish or poultry, says Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
You're at risk of spreading food-borne pathogens if you fail to wash your hands after touching raw meat or fish. It's also important to thoroughly wash plates, utensils and cutting boards used for raw meats or fish before using it for something else.
"Just rinsing it off isn't enough," Zanecosky says.
Another area of concern is eating under-cooked meats. To be sure meat has reached a safe temperature, use a meat thermometer. "Even if something is no longer pink, it may not necessarily be done," Henroid says.
One study found that one in four hamburgers that appeared to be cooked hadn't yet reached the proper internal temperature to kill illness-causing bacteria, he says.
Touching meat with your finger, probing meat and tasting meat aren't reliable ways to know if something is done, he adds.
When large numbers of people get sick from a fast-food restaurant or a wedding banquet, that gets all the press. However, many more food poisoning cases happen in people's own homes, Zanecosky says.
What To Do
Check Iowa State University Extension's Ten Steps to a Safe Kitchen. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more on safe food handling.
