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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> "Because look how many people get sick before you can even know it," added Foreman, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official.
The FDA has told the agriculture industry to do a better job of policing itself, but the agency doesn't have inspection or safety programs for produce like the U.S. Agriculture Department has for meat and poultry, the AP said.
Still, there are steps consumers can -- and should -- take to better protect themselves, experts said.
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Washing fresh produce should be a priority, even though it will only reduce -- not eliminate -- the number of germs such as E. coli present, said Sheah Rarback, a registered dietician and an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "A lot of contaminants do wash off," she said. "And with lettuce and spinach, instead of washing, dunk it into a bowl to help clean the crevices. Even if a bag says something is triple washed, wash it again."
Meat, especially hamburger, is a different matter, and consumers can do much to ensure their health, Imperato said.
Many meats are contaminated with intestinal bacteria from animals. But these organisms are usually confined to the surface of the meat and are easily destroyed by cooking. But because of the way hamburger is processed and ground together, bacteria can easily end up on the inside of a hamburger patty and sheltered from the cleansing flame.
"We need to cook ground beef thoroughly," said Arun Bhunia, a professor of food microbiology at Purdue University. "Make sure the internal temperature is considered cooked."
Botulism like that caused by the contaminated carrot juice is a relatively rare occurrence, with only 19 cases reported in the United States in 2005. Until the recent cases involving the juice, only three cases in the United States had been reported this year.
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