Hey yall, it’s going to be Food & Wine Week sponsored by Westchester Magazine. If you went to the Valhalla Dam last year to attend the “Burger and Beer Bash” and did not come away with any illness associated with the event, consider yourself lucky. There was a documented foodborne illness outbreak. Several people last year were stricken with a bacterial infection called Campylobacter jejuni, which is normally associated with raw chicken that was either undercooked or spread to ready-to-eat foods through cross contamination.
The Westchester County Department of Health never did find a source of the contamination. They said they were going to do some extra food safety training to the vendors that were preparing food under the tents…really? Maybe this year they will have an inspector taking a look around and if they don’t, Westchester Magazine should foot the bill for a certified health sanitarian to be present.
I hope everyone that plans to prepare food at the event practices basic health and sanitation.
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2) Clean and sanitize food contact surfaces of equipment
3) Do not thermally abuse food that requires refrigeration
4) Cook products to proper internal temperatures (Use a thermometer-don't guess)
5) Cool and thaw food properly
6) Do not prepare food if you are sick-get lost
I found the article Westchester Magazine published about food safety in their July 2013 issue comical, an attempt to shade what really happened at their event last year and a little after-the-fact.
It would be a crime if another foodborne illness outbreak occurred this week, E-coli should not be a special guest at this year’s “Meatball Mania”.
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David Walpuck CP-FS
Foodsafetystories.com
