6 Dangerous Food Mistakes You're Making l Cooking Mistakes That Makes You Sick

Did you know that you are making some bad choices with your food that could make you really sick? With your kitchen already having more germs than the bathroom, especially the kitchen sink (organisms like salmonella and E. coli), you need to take extra precaution. All it takes is 15 to 20 cells in undercooked food to cause food poisoning and a tiny taste of food with the botulism toxin can cause paralysis and even death. If you think this couldn't happen to you, think again. Foodsafety.gov warned people of this trap. "Many people don’t know it, but some foodborne illnesses can actually lead to long-term health conditions and 3,000 Americans a year die from foodborne illness." Handling food in a safe way can reduce your risks from getting sick. Avoid being one of the 48 million people, who will get ill from handling food. Here are 6 dangerous food mistakes that you are making.

You Use the Same Cutting Board

Pixabay.com

Do not use just one cutting board as there is a chance of cross-contamination. Use one board for cutting meat and use another one for cutting vegetables. Bacteria from the raw meat can live inside the grooves of the board. A report found that 80 percent of all grocery-store chickens in the U.S. are already contaminated with intestinal bacteria like Klebsiella, Salmonella and Campylobacter, so it is imperative to watch what our cutting boards. "Cutting a head of lettuce after butterflying a couple of chicken breasts is just playing Russian roulette with your gastrointestinal tract. You might as well lick the raw chicken," the Daily Beast shared. Cross-contamination occurs when juices from the raw meat get on ready-cooked food. Don't chance the risk of exposure and keep two cutting boards in your kitchen.

You Are Rinsing Your Meat

There is a fallacy that in order to get rid of any bacteria on meat, you should rinse off the juices with water first. This is another no-no and this could get you really sick. Germs love the sink and when you add raw meat to the mix, you are asking to get sick. You can contaminate the entire sink area by handling raw meat. Rinsing raw meat only increases your risk of getting sick because of the juice from the meat splashes and gets on the counters and other areas that you forget clean. "The best way to cook meat, poultry, or seafood safely is to make sure you cook it to the right temperature," Foodsafety.gov added. Bleach the basin and wipe any facet with bleach as well as create a barrier between you and the surface area with a paper towel or a paper plate. Also, when you cook the meat it will kill off most of the bacteria.

You Thaw Meat the Wrong Way

Pixabay.com

How many times did we leave the house in the morning, leaving the meat to defrost naturally so it is ready to be cooked when we get home. People have been doing it for years because it seems harmless. But this is a big mistake. Never thaw food on the counter or in the sink. As soon as food begins to "defrost and become warmer than 40 degrees any bacteria that may have been present before freezing can begin to multiply," the United States Department of Agriculture reported. They also warned to not defrost meat in hot water as it is not safe. Even though the center of the package may still be frozen, the outer may reach temperatures that are dangerous. Thaw meat in the refrigerator, cook it in the microwave or defrost it in cold water instead.

You Cross-Contaminate Using the Same Sponge

Another thing that we often miss is the tool that we use to clean the sink and our dishes. The good old sponge can cross-contaminate as bad as the cutting board. Food particles can lodge themselves into the sponge and this causes bacteria. This spreads to other foods, dishes and countertops because most people use one sponge. Although it is multi-purpose, it should not be used to clean everything. Good Housekeeping reported that when people cook, especially when preparing raw meat, they transfer bacteria and E. coli. Change out your sponges frequently and be more mindful what you are doing with it around food. Kline revealed: “When you notice a musty smell, it’s time to replace your sponge. I recommend having a jumbo pack on hand; you want to be able to easily replace your sponge frequently.”

You Fail to Keep Foods Chilled

During the barbecue season, the weather creates the perfect environment for E.coli to flourish. Outdoor activities and fun times make us forget that we are at a higher risk to become sick since we can't keep food refrigerated. Anything with dairy should not be sitting out for more than an hour as it could go bad, even if it tastes fine. You need to keep things like your fish, meats, potato salads, macaroni salads and dips in ice to prevent them from spoiling if you do leave them out. On very hot days, these foods should never sit out more than an hour. “Once they have been sitting out, they are no longer safe to put back in the fridge," the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission explained to Everyday Health.

You Love Raw Cookie Dough

You've heard it before, but don't eat raw cookie dough. We do it anyway because it tastes great and because most of us never got sick from it before. Consuming raw eggs can make you sick and this is what is in the dough. Ingesting these pathogens can trigger symptoms that are not joyful. You can experience vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea or you may get a fever. Prevention.com reported that it "could lead to serious diseases such as hemolytic uremic syndrome characterized by anemia and acute kidney failure or even death." Most of us have good experiences licking the bowl of cake batter or eating cookie dough as a kid. However, there is always that risk of getting dangerously ill from this adored pastime. Store-bought dough is pasteurized and should be okay. Yet, you are still taking a risk.