News Coverage
Top 10 Dirtiest Foods
Published March 18, 2004
Chicken, cantaloupe, peaches, prepackaged lettuce, cold cuts and even scallions are among the top "10 dirtiest foods".
That's according to an evaluation by Men's Health Magazine featured in the April issue, on newsstands now.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates every day 200,000 Americans contract food poisoning.
A New York University microbiologist estimates it's as high as 800,000 people.
In fact, everyone in this country will have at least one incident of sickness this year attributable to a food borne virus, bacteria, or toxin.
Here is the complete list of "10 dirtiest foods" according to Men's Health:
Chicken: "recent nationwide testing by consumers union notes that of the 484 raw broilers examined, 42% were infected by campylobacter jejuni, and 12% by salmonella enterides, the latest USDA research notes similar salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year, more than beef, pork, or turkey and it's no surprise it's #1".
Ground beef: "when USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meet, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered clostridium perfringes in 53% of the batches, staphylococcus in 30%, and listeria monocyogenes in 12%."
Ground turkey: "a USDA survey showed that the odds are better than one in four that your [turkey] contains listeria, campylobacter, clostridium, or some combination of the three....[and] in a separate study by the fda and the university of maryland, 24% of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for salmonella."
Raw oysters: "these filters of ocean waste can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), campylobacter and vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from the so-called safe beds discovered that 9% were contaminated with salmonella bacteria." E-coli was also found in 100% of the gulf coast locations in high amounts.
Eggs: "more widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of salmonella contamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than two million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300."
Cantaloupe: "when the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5% of the melons carried salmonella and shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7% tested positive for both bugs." because people generally eat melons raw is a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001 produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.
Peaches: "the fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart."
Prepackaged lettuce: "outbreaks of e. Coli sickened 36 people in San Diego in September 2003 and sent 29 people reeling in eastern Washington in July 2002. In both cases, prepackaged lettuce was to blame. And according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuces accounted for 11% of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and 'salad' accounted for 28%."
Cold cuts: "...cold cuts have been labeled at 'high risk' of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC."
Scallions: the "massive hepatitis a outbreak at Chi-Chi's last October"; "small hepatitis a outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee"; as well as FDA tests that show "U.S. Grown scallions carried salmonella or shigella in 3% of samples" puts scallions on the list.
The magazine's April issue special report also provides advice on how to make safer selections at the supermarket and handle food more safely at home.
The "10 dirtiest foods" were selected by accessing the incident of outbreaks and the relative danger of the contaminant of frequently eaten and poorly prepared foods.
Sources for the data evaluation included the Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition's Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook, The Environmental Working Group's Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce, USDA Progress Report on Salmonella Testing of Raw Meat and Poultry Products'98-'02, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA Survey of Domestic Fresh Produce 2000-'01, FDA Bug Book, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Nationwide Federal Plant Raw Ground Beef Biographical Survey, CSPI Outbreak Alerts! and more.