GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Should you wash produce and meats before eating? Do you think mayo is a bad idea for picnic salads? What do you really know about food safety practices?
Deb Barone Sheats, St. Catherine's Department chair and assistant professor of nutritional sciences, stopped by KARE 11 News @4 to go over some now-busted food myths.
In addition, here are some myths from USATODAY:
Myth: Mayonnaise is a death trap
Actually, mayonnaise is an ingredient "with penicillin-like properties," says Don Zink, senior science adviser for the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in College Park, Md.
Mayo is a homogenized mixture of oil and water, with egg white to stabilize it. The salt and vinegar or lemon juice makes the tiny droplets of water suspended in the mixture deadly to microbes. So for a safer salad, don't hold the mayo.
Myth: You should wash produce and meats
Even though half the recipes involving meat tell you to rinse it off (especially chicken and turkey), this is unnecessary and actually dangerous, says Elisabeth Hagen, under- secretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Rinsing meat or poultry with water can actually increase your chance of food poisoning by splashing raw juices and any bacteria they might contain onto your sink and counters."
For more information on today's food myths head to Your Life at USATODAY.
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