Don’t Bring These Five Foods To The Beach!

An emergency room doctor is sharing the five foods he would never bring to the beach for fear of food poisoning — cold cuts, fresh salads, anything with mayo, raw meat, and pre-cut fruits.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) estimates about four million Canadians contract a foodborne illness each year, of those, roughly 11,600 are hospitalized and 238 die.

Cold Cuts
Sandwiches with deli meats or cold cuts must be refrigerated until they are ready to be eaten. For your sandwiches to be safe to eat, use an insulated bag or cooler that can keep contents below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Bacteria grow most rapidly between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a range known as the “danger zone.”

Fresh Salads
A new study published in the Journal of Food Protection finds that leafy green vegetables — especially romaine and iceberg lettuce, spinach, and cabbage — are a major source of foodborne illnesses.

Washing your hands before and after preparing your salad cleaning and sanitizing all dishes and utensils, and using different kitchenware for ready-to-eat cold dishes and raw foods. Keep your salad in an airtight container until you’re ready to serve it…

Anything you Mayo…
Mayo-based salads can cause major issues if you’re not careful…Eggs should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit while chicken should be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The salads should be refrigerated until serving.

Raw Meat!
Don’t bring uncooked meats to the beach! If you decide to do the beach cookout, scrub the grill before use; wash hands before and after handling raw meat and poultry; separate raw meat, cooked meat, and vegetables; and use a food thermometer.

Whole cuts of meat should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit with a three-minute rest time. Fish should be cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, ground meats to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and ground or whole poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Eat the meat within two hours of cooking or one hour if the outside temperature reaches above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pre-Cut Fruits!
A 2021 study noted that fresh-cut fruit products could be contaminated during the peeling, slicing, and packaging phases of processing, with salmonella, E. coli, listeria and norovirus among the major pathogens of concern.