
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 11, 1995                   TAG: 9506300005
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MAKING MEAT SAFER

Cook ground beef thoroughly, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees and until the juices run clear. Make thin patties and slit the middle to make sure the inside is brown, not pink, before eating.

Raw steaks, roasts and other cuts of meat must be handled carefully, but, since the bacteria is on the outside of meat, it is easily killed. With ground meat, the bacteria may be inside, where thorough cooking is much more difficult to gauge.

If a restaurant serves a rare or pink hamburger, send it back.

Wash your hands with soap and warm water after handling raw meat to avoid cross contamination.

Thoroughly wash utensils and cutting boards with hot, soapy water after they've come in contact with raw meat.

Wash vegetables that have been fertilized with potentially tainted manure.

Use one cutting board for raw meat, preferably wood, and another for raw vegetables and other food. Bacteria can live longer in cracks in plastic cutting boards, which may never fully dry.

Never put cooked hamburgers or beef back on the same plate that held the raw meat.

Throw away marinade used on raw meat.

While shopping, keep packages of meat separate from other groceries to prevent potentially contaminated juices from dripping onto fresh foods.

After shopping, freeze or refrigerate raw meat immediately. Place raw meat on a plate on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to keep juices from dripping onto salad, fruit or other ready-to-eat foods.

Never thaw raw meat on the counter; keep it in the refrigerator.

After cooking, don't let meat sit outside the refrigerator for more than two hours. Bacteria grow more quickly at room temperature.

Avoid drinking unpasteurized apple cider and unpasteurized milk. And take care when eating dry salami and sausage. E. coli can live in acidic environments for up to a month.

Drink treated municipal water. E. coli outbreaks have been traced to well water, ground water and drinking water contaminated by burst sewage pipes or cow feces. Swimming in fecally contaminated water also has been a source of contamination.

Wash hands thoroughly after coming in contact with human feces at day care centers, nursing homes or when handling diapers at home. Some infected people may not be sick but may carry the bacteria.

- Knight-Ridder/Tribune

by CNB