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Consumer Q's 4/10/08

Contact:  Teresa Jenkins
(404) 656-3645
1-800-282-5852

CONSUMER Q’s
Prepared by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, Office of Public Affairs
Tommy Irvin, Commissioner
Call Consumer Q’s Hotline at 1-800-282-5852

 

Consumer Alert/Recall:  Food safety when shopping

Every year thousands of consumers suffer from a dose of food poisoning.  Many of those cases are caught in the home.

Food poisoning is usually caused by bacteria called pathogens.  These can either be present on foods, or can be passed from you to the food.  You cannot tell if food is safe by looking at it, smelling it or tasting it.  Bacteria are so small that 10 million (more than enough to give the average person food poisoning) would fit on a pin-head.

The golden rule for safety is to keep HOT foods HOT and COLD foods COLD – never just warm.  Bacteria thrive in temperatures between 41°F and 140°F.  Hot means steaming hot and cold means at refrigerated temperatures or below.

here are things you can do to reduce the risk of food-borne illness – and a good place to start is at the beginning – when you buy food.

Food retailers, like supermarkets, maintain rigid food safety standards to ensure that you always receive the best.  But once you buy food, it is then your responsibility to take the same care of it.

Shopping is the first stage where you can take this responsibility.  Not only can you look for certain signs to ensure you receive a safe product, but there are things you can do yourself.  Here’s how:

All food retailers and food producers have a responsibility to provide you with safe food.  But, even then there are things you should look for.

Damaged packaging:  Check the products carefully to check for any signs of the following:

Dented cans

Leaking cartons, cans, bottles or containers

Torn or ripped packaging

Swollen chilled foods packages and cans

Cracked eggs

Broken or imperfect seals

  Dairy products and other chilled or frozen foods left out of refrigerators

Products with molds, discoloration or infestation

Products in loose vacuum packs

Never buy such products.  They may be contaminated with dangerous levels of bacteria.  Report such findings to the store manager.

• If you return home and the find some evidence of tampering or package damage – return the product to the store or call the manufacturer.

• Always check the date mark on foods, especially foods with a short shelf life such as dairy products.  The date mark indicates the date by which the food will be at its best quality.  After this date, the food may still be OK, but check it very carefully for any signs of deterioration.  If in doubt, don’t buy it.

• Products should not be overloaded in supermarket fridges and freezers.  Chilled foods need to be kept at constant low temperature in order for bacteria growth to be kept on hold.  Note the black line in fridges and freezers with the words “load limit” written above.  Retailers should never have any product above this line.

• If a product is labeled “keep refrigerated”’ or “Keep chilled” and it is not in chilled storage don’t buy it.

• When buying food from the deli counter, ensure staff use separate tongs for each food type.

• Always choose refrigerated and frozen foods towards the end of your shopping trip such as meat, dairy products, deli products, and ice cream.  Frozen foods should be rock hard and chilled foods cold to the touch.

• Save hot chickens and other hot cooked foods for later in the trip too.  Keep them separated from frozen and chilled products.

• Try not to overload your cart - this can result in damaged packaging and quality loss for many foods.

• Ask the packer or retailer to pack raw meats in a separate bag from other products – this prevents juices from cross-contaminating other products.

• And lastly, always go straight home.  Do not leave your groceries in a hot car.  If you are traveling long distances (over half an hour), place your chilled and frozen products in a cooler for the trip home.  If you anticipate a long drive home avoid buying hot food.

• When you arrive home, immediately pack chilled and frozen products into your fridge or freezer

Self-Service Salad/Dessert Bars

Self-service salad/desert bars are becoming more popular in supermarkets.  These convenience type foods are great for the busy person.  A few simple rules, however, will ensure that you enjoy these foods safely:

Always take the container from the dispenser.

Each salad or desert has its own utensil.  Use the one that is allocated to the item and don’t mix the serving utensils.  Only hold the utensil by the handle.

Food purchased from salad bars should be eaten within 48 hours.

Check instructions provided by the supermarket on how to use the self-service area in a hygienic manner.

The self-service area should always be supervised by a staff member.

Always remember that other people will use the bar, so never touch the food with your hands and do not taste the foods.  If you can see anyone handling the food, report it to a staff member.

How many types of pruning are there and what is the difference?

While researching your question I found that there are fourteen (14) types of Pruning as follows:

Crown raising:  removing lower branches to provide clearance, such as for pedestrians or vehicles.

Crown reduction:  removing branches to reduce the height of a tree.

Crown thinning:  removing interior branches to increase light penetration and air movement through the crown of a tree.

Coppicing:  cutting back a shrub nearly to the base, resulting in a flush of new growth. Not all shrubs respond well to this technique; shrubs that do include butterfly bush, caryopteris, and red-twig dogwood.

Espalier:  training a tree on a wire or trellis against a wall.

Heading back:  pruning shoots back to a lateral branch or bud.

Pollarding:  pruning all new growth back to the same spot on the branches each year, leaving swollen stubs that sprout flushes of vigorous shoots.  Some plants adapt to pollarding, but many, especially large trees, are weakened by the practice.  Must be done every year or two.

Shearing:  repeatedly cutting all branches of a shrub or hedge back to the same length to create a uniform, manicured shape.  Can be stressful to plant, and not all shrubs respond well to shearing.

Topiary:  pruning and/or training a plant into a specific shape, often geometric.

Topping:  Cutting back large limbs of the entire canopy to drastically reduce the size of a tree.  Very stressful and can result in the death of the tree.

Training:  Using pruning, tying, staking, and other means to direct growth of a plant.

Vertical branch spacing: distribution of branches up and down the trunk of a tree.

 Wound: area where the bark of a plant is cut or damaged.

Wound dressing: specially formulated material applied to pruning cuts.  Generally not needed except on trees susceptible to diseases such as Dutch elm disease and oak wilt.  Also called pruning paint.

Check with a horticulturist or your county extension agent for a recommendation on which method to use for which plants.

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If you have questions or problems with products or services regulated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, you may write the Office of Consumer Services, Room 224, 19 Martin Luther King Drive, Atlanta 30334 or 404/656-3645 (metro Atlanta) or 1-800-282-5852 (state wide).