Health department gives tips on staying safe amid listeria outbreak from deli meats

Published: Aug 30, 2024 Duration: 00:02:47 Category: News & Politics

Trending searches: what deli meats have listeria
More about the meat processing plant in Virginia that's led to a deadly Listeria outbreak nationwide. The USDA found dozens of health code and violations including insects, mold and dirty equipment at the Boar's Head facility which led to the bacteria spreading to millions of products. Well, 10 news reporter Olivia Day joins us from our kitchen with some tips from the Knox County Health Department. Olivia. Even if these recall products are not in your home, there are some best practices to keep you and your family from getting sick. Robin, after speaking to the health department, I learned this bacteria can live on food you already have in your fridge. Listeria is not as harmful for healthy adults and kids. However, it's invisible, odorless and tasteless. So it's not a bad idea to keep these tips in mind. So everyone stays healthy before you step in the kitchen. Keep these things in mind to keep your family safe. Number one, check your fridge. Look for these Boarhead products with the code 12612. If you have them, make sure to clean surfaces, door handles and your entire fridge, it grows a biofilm over the bacteria. And that biofilm protects it. Like if you were to pour straight bleach on it, it may not do anything. It's the agitation and the scrubbing of the equipment that's gonna help with that and turn down the temperature. Listeria grows at 39 degrees or warmer. The CDC says, keep your fridge at 36 to 38 degrees. Number two, when you have leftovers, reheat them to a safe temperature of 100 and 65 degrees. But if it's been more than seven days, toss it. So when it comes to Listeria, it needs seven days at the proper temperature and the right moisture levels to grow in numbers high enough to make a human being sick. That includes throwing out deli meat seven days after you open it. And number three, stay aware of recalls like this one. If you're pregnant over 65 or have a weak immune system, you might be at a higher risk. Monitor your symptoms. Look for those headaches and nausea. The vomiting, the diarrhea, reach out to medical professionals and seek help as soon as you can if you start to become sick and trust your gut, if something seems funky, either reheat it or toss it. Now, the Knox County Health Department says if you're a healthy adult, not in those at risk groups, you're most likely fine. But it's a good reminder to practice some food safety as easy as cleaning with some bleach, heating leftovers to 100 and 65 degrees and throwing out food in your fridge before that seven day mark, Robin, I'm gonna send things back to you, but I kind of want to clean my fridge now that I've done this story. Yeah, and you have me wanting to clean my fridge as well. Do it this weekend, Olivia. Thank you for that.

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