Ignoring Food Handling Instructions Can Lead to Life-Threatening Illness

Ignoring food handling instructions about storage and cooking temperatures can land you in the hospital — or worse.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers to pay attention to food labels, pointing to a few recent instances where people who did not pay attention to labels became ill with botulism.

“Heat & Serve/Keep Refrigerated.” Those instructions on a plastic container of soup from a supermarket salad bar were ignored. The purchaser let the soup sit unrefrigerated for “a day or two” before heating it. After tasting the soup and finding it “sour,” that consumer disposed of it. It was too late, though, and they ended up in the hospital diagnosed with botulism.

A similar incident happened when a consumer purchased soup in a pack of two plastic containers. The soup was sold cold and the instructions were to “keep refrigerated.” The first container of soup was eaten with no ill effects, but the second container was left unrefrigerated for a week. The consumer heated the soup and threw it away after tasting, but was also hospitalized with botulism.

If the label says, “Keep Refrigerated,” keep the product refrigerated. Do not ignore this warning!

Botulism can result in respiratory failure, permanent neurological damage, or even death. But botulism isn’t the only serious thing that can go wrong.

Safe Handling Instructions: “Cook thoroughly” means that you need to cook to a safe minimum cooking temperature. Don’t trust the color of meat to tell you when its cooked — use a food thermometer to be sure. Undercooked meat can cause food poisoning from bacteria like E. coli. The worst type of E. coli can lead to kidney failure and even death. Children age four and under are particularly susceptible.

Always cook meat thoroughly.

Microwave Labels: Always read and follow the cooking instructions on frozen microwave dinners to kill any dangerous bacteria that may be in the food.

Many labels list cooking times for two wattage levels of microwave ovens. Or they may explain that the cooking time on the package is for 1100-watt ovens, so you have to adjust the time for lower wattage ovens. You can use a food thermometer to be certain.

Don’t skip the standing time: the label may recommend letting the food stand for a minute or two after cooking. This “standing time” is important to complete the cooking process throughout the food.

Microwave foods have important instructions, too.

Keep your family safe — read and follow handling instructions on food labels.

Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Read more: botulism, e. coli, fda, food labels, health policy, healthcaretmc

Image used under Creative Commons License 2.0 with thanks to Dan4th

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Akin A.

5:42AM PDT on Jul 25, 2011

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

Suzy F.

8:24AM PDT on May 31, 2011

This article is not an article! How about the rest of the story? As a former cook/bartender/etc...we have to get certified in food safety procedures. I see none of those explained here. Poor writing.

Sue M.

6:01PM PDT on May 28, 2011

thanks for this post.

Dave C.

5:26PM PDT on May 28, 2011

thanks for posting, hope everyone listens!

Glenda L.

6:50AM PDT on May 28, 2011

Excellent advice!!! Why would anyone leave soup out for 2 days to a week? That's crazy!!

Nicole G.

6:34AM PDT on May 28, 2011

I am guilty of the 2 minute standing time after I microwave dishes for me. However, I will follow through with standing time if I'm fixing things in the microwave. I appreciate this article and I promise to care better of myself

Veronica C.

8:48PM PDT on May 25, 2011

We would think most warnings are common sense, but they were probably added to the packaging after someone did the thing that they are now warning us not to do.

Berny P.

10:04AM PDT on May 25, 2011

This is common sense but then...you cant educate bacon!!!!LOL

Marie W.

8:45PM PDT on May 24, 2011

If you can't read.. then why go shopping?

Diosdado P.

4:17PM PDT on May 24, 2011

Come on people read the labels