Experts explain how to avoid getting sick when preparing food in the spring and summer.

Spring has arrived, and with it the hallowed ritual of the backyard barbecue. For an unlucky few there will be some serious aftereffects: the stomachaches, vomiting, or even hospitalization that can result from eating spoiled potato salad or an undercooked hamburger.

The CDC estimates that 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths result from food-borne illness each year. The rate of illness tends to increase in the warmer months, in part due to picnics and barbecues, CDC researcher Elaine Scallan tells WebMD.

The good news this spring is a new study suggesting that Americans are wising up to the effects of eating risky foods. After conducting two national telephone surveys in 1998 and 2002 asking what people had eaten in the past week, researchers found that the percent eating one or more foods labeled "risky" in the past week declined from 31% in 1998 to 21% in 2002.

Media Campaigns

Researcher Erica Weis, MPH, of California's health services department, suggests that public health campaigns and media coverage of outbreaks may be responsible for the decline.

But there was room for improvement in certain groups. Among Asians and Pacific Islanders, the number eating risky foods was 32%. Research has found this group is more likely to eat raw fish or raw shellfish, Weis tells WebMD.

Risky-food consumption also appeared to be higher among children with compromised immune systems than among healthy children. The finding is worrying because an infection that could cause just a stomachache in a healthy person could hospitalize or even kill those with weakened immune systems.

The reason for this finding hasn't been studied. Perhaps sick kids want to eat the same things as their peers, Weis says. Or the finding may be due to the study design; parents answered surveys for their children, and the parents of sick children may keep closer tabs on what their children ate.

Risky Foods to Watch Out For

The researchers based their list of "risky" foods on studies of recent outbreaks. Here's the list:

* Pink hamburgers
* Pink ground beef
* Raw fresh fish
* Raw oysters
* Raw or unpasteurized milk
* Alfalfa sprouts
* Runny eggs

Undercooked eggs were the most commonly eaten risky food. That includes eggs served sunny-side up as well as raw eggs used in preparation of hollandaise sauce, meringue, Caesar salad dressing, and the like.

Food safety authorities have long steered people away from sunny-side-up, soft-boiled, or "over- easy" eggs, all of which carry the risk of salmonella. If you must eat runny eggs or use them in recipes, Weis suggests you buy pasteurized eggs, which have been briefly heated to destroy bacteria. They are available -- typically at a small premium -- at many supermarkets. If you're ordering sunny-side-up eggs at a restaurant, ask if they're pasteurized, she suggests.

Risky Take-Home Food

Food safety experts are keeping an eye on some worrying trends in food consumption. One is the growing preference for unprocessed "natural" foods available at farmers' markets. While many of these foods may be very healthy, unpasteurized dairy products and juices are more likely to carry a variety of nasty bacteria, experts say. "You can have fresh and locally-produced food that is also safe," Scallan says, "and safe food means pasteurized milk and juices."

Another trend: Buying prepared food from supermarkets and then bringing it home for the family. It's dangerous to leave perishable food at room temperature for more than two hours, notes Shelly Feist of the nonprofit Partnership for Food Safety Education. That window shortens considerably when temperatures are higher -- such as when a prepared meal is placed in a hot car. So be sure to eat prepared food soon after purchasing it, Feist says.

Food Safety in the Outdoors

The warm weather that makes springtime so inviting also creates an ideal breeding environment for bacteria and other pathogens found in food. Here's some advice from The Partnership for Food Safety Education on how to apply food-safety tips to the out-of-doors:

* Clean. Wash your hands --as well as utensils, cutting boards, and countertops -- in hot soapy water before and after preparing each food item. Also wash produce, which can carry harmful bacteria. As easy as these directives can be to ignore while in the kitchen, it's even easier when you're outside and playing with the dog, with the Frisbee, or with your baby niece, Feist notes. Don't drop your guard!

* Separate.Sure, it's tempting to pour that sauce you used to marinate raw burgers or chicken wings onto the cooked food. It's also tempting to place the cooked grub back onto the plate that held your raw meat. Don't give in! Always keep raw meat and its juices separate from cooked food. If you want to reuse that sauce, then boil it first.

* Cook.It's the best way to kill bad bugs. When grilling, preheat the coals on your grill for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the coals are lightly coated with ash. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that hamburgers and red meats are cooked to 160 degrees and ground poultry to 165 degrees. Poultry breast should be cooked to 170 degrees; dark meat (wings and thighs) should be cooked to 180 degrees. Poultry juices should run clear. Fish should be opaque and flaky.

* Chill.No, this doesn't refer to what you do after breaking open a Bud at the barbecue. Bacteria grow quickly at room temperature and even faster under the hot sun. So refrigerate meat while it marinates, and keep that potato salad in a cooler that's well-packed with ice or freezer packs.

專家解釋如何在溫暖的春季夏季準備食物時，避免其腐敗和變質。

伴隨著春季的來臨，人們用后院的燒烤聚餐來慶祝它的到來。非常不幸的是燒烤可能帶來嚴重的后遺癥，比如腹痛，嘔吐，甚至住院治療等疾病，都可能是因為食用了變質馬鈴薯沙拉或一個未烹飪熟的漢堡包。

疾病預防控制中心研究員伊萊恩告訴記者，據該中心估計，每年有325000人因食物傳染的疾病住院，其中5000人死亡。患病率在天氣溫暖的月份呈上升趨勢。其中部分原因正是野餐和燒烤。

今年春天有一個好消息：一項新的研究表明，美國人正在降低使用“危險”食物的影響程度。在1998年和2002年進行的兩次全國電話調查中，調查研究了人們過去一周中的飲食情況。研究人員從中發現，食用“危險”食物的比率由1998年的31 ％下降到年2002年的21 ％。

媒體宣傳

加州衛生服務部的埃里卡維斯碩士研究員，表示面向公眾的健康宣傳活動和媒體報道的可能是上述概率下降原因。

但此類情況在某些群體還有改進的空間。比如，亞洲人和太平洋島民，食用“危險”食品的概率為32 ％ 。研究發現，這組群體更可能食用到生魚片或生貝類。

“危險”食物消費在免疫功能較弱的兒童群體食用比例要高于在健康兒童群體。令人擔憂的研究顯示，由“危險”食物帶來的腸胃感染，可能給一個健康人帶來的僅僅是腹部疼痛，而卻有可能引發那些免疫功能較弱群體的住院治療或者危及生命。

上述現象的原因還沒有被科學證實。維斯研究員推測，有可能生病的孩子對“危險”食物并不排斥，或者發現與調查設計有關，由于孩子的父母代替孩子回答調查問題，或者父母密切關注他們的飲食。

“危險”食物的識別與提防

研究人員根據其對“危險食品”的研究，列出了最近容易暴發和常見的食物。清單如下：

* 未加工熟的漢堡包
* 未加工熟的牛排
* 生鮮魚類
* 生鮮貝類
* 生鮮或未經高溫消毒的牛奶
* 豆芽等發芽菜
* 未加工熟的流體狀的雞蛋

未加工的雞蛋是最常見的食用風險。這些食品包括只煎一面的雞蛋以及用生雞蛋制作的醬油、蛋白、凱撒大帝沙拉醬等。

食品安全當局長期以來指導人們遠離單面煎、軟煮熟、“帶生”雞蛋等食品，所有這些雞蛋食品都攜帶沙門氏菌的致病風險。如果你必須吃流狀雞蛋或使用其作為食譜，魏絲研究員建議你購買巴氏殺菌雞蛋，這些雞蛋已經簡要加熱并破壞了細菌。他們通常在很多超級市場都有小的溢價銷售。如果您在一家餐廳點了單面煎蛋，請問他們是否有消毒處理。

外帶食品的衛生安全風險

食品安全專家正在密切關注一些令人擔憂的食品消費趨勢。其中之一是人們越來越傾向于在農貿市場購買未處理未加工的“天然”食品。雖然許多這些食品可能會非常健康，但專家說它們（未經奶制品和果汁）更有可能攜帶各種細菌。“你可以把新鮮和當地生產的食品帶回家，但安全的食物必須是巴氏奶和果汁”Scallan專家提醒。

另一個趨勢是人們開始習慣購買已加工或已準備好的食品，把它帶回家食用。我們在謝利法伊斯特非營利伙伴關系的食品安全教育提示中發現：易腐食品暴露在室溫下超過兩小時以上具有很高的食用致病風險，這類食品銷售窗口忽視了溫度較高情況下的食品保鮮——例如當外帶飯菜放置在一個炎熱的汽車內時。所以專家法伊斯特建議一定在準備食用食物時，再購買。

戶外野餐的食品衛生安全

在溫暖的春天，為室外飲食滋生細菌和其他病原體提供了氣溫條件和環境。下面是一些咨詢意見，伙伴關系的食品安全教育，為您說明如何注意戶外飲食的食品安全問題：

* 清潔。洗手-以及餐具，砧板，和臺面-用熱肥皂水在烹飪前和食用前后清洗上述每個物品。清洗各種可攜帶有害細菌的生鮮食物。法伊斯特提示，像在您廚房里一樣不要忽視清潔，尤其是當您在外面玩狗、飛盤、或與您的寶寶侄女玩耍后。一定不要放棄你的衛生防護！

* 分離。醬油原料用來腌雞翅膀漢堡包或熟食是誘人的美味。同樣人們容易把煮熟的食物放回盛有生肉的盤子。不要混入！始終保持生肉及其果汁熟食分開。如果你想重復使用的醬油，然后再次食用它前要先煮熟一次。

* 烹調。這是最好的殺死細菌的方式。當燒烤時，預熱炭煤20到30分鐘，或直至煤是輕輕涂有炭灰。使用肉類溫度計，以確保漢堡包和紅肉煮熟到160度，家禽至165度。家禽乳腺癌病菌的完全殺滅應煮熟到170度；深色肉（翅膀和大腿）應煮熟至180度。家禽果汁應明確分開烹調。魚應該烹調到不透明的片狀。

* 冷卻。這并非指你在開始燒烤后再去做什么。因為，細菌在室溫條件下繁殖迅速，而在炎熱的太陽下就更是如此。因此，冷藏肉類需要進行事先腌制 ，同時保持馬鈴薯沙拉在涼爽的擠滿了冰或冷凍包裝內儲存。