Prepare food properly
Salmonella is a dangerous bacteria. So it is very important to prevent contamination. It is going too far to leave all risk products alone, but you must prepare these products properly and hygienically.
A few important preparation tips are listed below, and especially the at-risk groups should follow them:
- Always wash your hands before cooking.
- Wash your hands after handling raw meat.
- Do not pierce raw meat and then cooked food with the same cutlery. Otherwise there is a chance that the Salmonella bacteria will transfer from the raw to the prepared product, which is called cross-contamination.
- Cook meat thoroughly.
- Do not use raw eggs in dishes that will not be further heated, such as homemade mayonnaise.
- Fry eggs or boil them hard: the egg white and yolk should preferably be set.
- Store eggs in the refrigerator.
- Wash fruits and vegetables carefully.
- Submerge vegetables such as alfalfa, watercress and bean sprouts in boiling water before using them in a salad.
- Use a glass cutting board. There are no cutting slots in which bacteria can accumulate.
Minimal chance
Clean hands, clean equipment, clean and well-cooked products, that’s what it comes down to in a nutshell. The problem is that you have no influence at all on many of these matters in, for example, a restaurant.
Certainly if you belong to a risk group, it is important to only take hard-boiled eggs, and to check the doneness carefully for other dishes.
So check whether the chicken is fully cooked, whether the pork is well done, whether the egg is completely fried, et cetera. Perhaps unnecessarily: do not eat in restaurants or street outlets that do not look hygienic.
With all these measures, a salmonella infection can never be completely ruled out, but the chance of it is minimal.
Sources:
Health Council
Nutrition center
