Keep Food Safety in Mind to Prevent Foodborne Illness

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To protect your family and friends from foodborne illness, follow food safety rules. New Mexico State University's Anna María Pérez-Wright explains.

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To avoid foodborne illnesses, it's important to keep food safety in mind. Food technology specialist Nancy Flores with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service says foodborne illness is caused by bacteria that naturally occur in our environment.

"Bacteria may be present on foods when it's purchased. Raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs are not sterile. Even produce such as lettuce and tomatoes, sprouts and fruits contain bacteria that are naturally found in the environment. Only foods that are called commercially sterile are canned foods."

Flores says not all bacteria cause disease in humans and some bacteria is needed to make certain food products such as cheese and yogurt.

"Another very important thing that consumers must realize is that most cases of foodborne illness can be prevented by proper cooking and processing of the food as well as chilling. You need to keep cold foods cold and hot food hot. Bacteria multiply rapidly between the temperatures of 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees. You need to store food in the refrigerator or the freezer."

Store food in shallow pans within two hours of serving and don't pack the refrigerator or it cannot cool food properly. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.