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American Morning

Summer Food Safety

Aired July 03, 2003 - 08:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Fourth is upon us. You're ready to fire up the barbie, right? Nothing can spoil the summer fun quicker than food-related illness.
Sanjay Gupta is off this morning. So we turn now to Elizabeth Cohen, who is not a doctor, but plays one on TV.

She joins us from CNN Center.

Hello, Elizabeth. Give us some grilling tips, will you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

Yes, I just play a griller on TV, actually, Miles.

O'BRIEN: You can do it.

COHEN: That's right. This Fourth of July, you definitely don't want to be making yourself sick, or God forbid, making your guests sick; 5,000 people each year in the United States die of food-borne illness and 76 million get sick.

Let's talk about how not to become one of those statistics. Here are some basic principles of food safety. First of all, it's very important that you keep everything clean. I know that sounds very basic, but you need to keep everything clean. We're looking here now at some of the most common food-borne illnesses, salmonella, E. Coli, campylobacter. Those are three of the biggies that you need to watch out for.

And some of the things you can do, as I said, keep everything clean. Clean as you go. Don't make a mess and then decide you're going to clean it up later. Also separate raw and ready-to-eat foods. In other words, you don't want your raw chicken breast to be hanging out with those cucumbers that you're not going to cook. Also cook meat thoroughly. You're actually supposed to use a thermometer, which I think most people probably don't do. But you're supposed to use a thermometer while you're grilling.

Also keep food chilled. And what that means is that if there's food that's supposed to be cold -- for example, potato salad -- keep it cold until you're ready to eat it. And also keep hot foods hot. If foods are hot, keep them hot until you're ready to eat it. That's a basic tenet in food safety, keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

O'BRIEN: Campylobacter. I never heard of that. What is campylobacter? COHEN: You know, many people haven't, but it's actually very, very common. It's similar to salmonella. You would find it in chicken. So, again, it's something that can be cooked out, but you got to make sure that you cook your chicken thoroughly, and you've got to make sure that the raw chicken doesn't come in contact with salad kinds of foods, because you're not going to cook it, and then you could get the campylobacter. It's very similar to salmonella in the kind of illness it causes.

O'BRIEN: Forget about the raw, certainly not raw, but rare burgers. That's a bad idea, right?

COHEN: That is a bad idea. I think most people think, well, gee, I like my burgers medium rare. According to the USDA and other food safety experts, you're not supposed to have medium rare burgers. They should be cooked all the way through. And the reason you need to use a thermometer is sometimes people will marinate burgers in let's say a teriyaki sauce, so it looks brown and looks like it's cooked, but it's not. And only a thermometer can really tell the difference.

O'BRIEN: That's a good tip, definitely. So those thermometers are an important thing. Don't just slice into them and look at it. You need to know that temperature don't you?

COHEN: Yes, you do. And I actually have some thermometers with me. They're the traditional kinds. We thought this was kind of fun. This is a digital thermometer right here. It actually works in the air. It's now 73 degrees, I can tell you that right. And this works very quickly and it's very easy to use.

O'BRIEN: That one looks like it could inflict some torture on the...

COHEN: We use it for that when we're not grilling. And here's some where they pop up, so it can detect when the temperature is right and it pops up. That's how that one is designed.

But can you find them very easily. There are lots of different kinds out there. It seems kind of strange to be using a thermometer when you're out in the backyard grilling, but it really is the best thing.

O'BRIEN: I think that pop-up thing is a good idea. That makes it anchor-proof anyhow.

COHEN: Or idiot-proof.

O'BRIEN: Yes, whatever.

All right, Elizabeth ebola Cohen, thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Thank you Miles salmonella O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 3, 2003 - 08:41   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Fourth is upon us. You're ready to fire up the barbie, right? Nothing can spoil the summer fun quicker than food-related illness.
Sanjay Gupta is off this morning. So we turn now to Elizabeth Cohen, who is not a doctor, but plays one on TV.

She joins us from CNN Center.

Hello, Elizabeth. Give us some grilling tips, will you.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

Yes, I just play a griller on TV, actually, Miles.

O'BRIEN: You can do it.

COHEN: That's right. This Fourth of July, you definitely don't want to be making yourself sick, or God forbid, making your guests sick; 5,000 people each year in the United States die of food-borne illness and 76 million get sick.

Let's talk about how not to become one of those statistics. Here are some basic principles of food safety. First of all, it's very important that you keep everything clean. I know that sounds very basic, but you need to keep everything clean. We're looking here now at some of the most common food-borne illnesses, salmonella, E. Coli, campylobacter. Those are three of the biggies that you need to watch out for.

And some of the things you can do, as I said, keep everything clean. Clean as you go. Don't make a mess and then decide you're going to clean it up later. Also separate raw and ready-to-eat foods. In other words, you don't want your raw chicken breast to be hanging out with those cucumbers that you're not going to cook. Also cook meat thoroughly. You're actually supposed to use a thermometer, which I think most people probably don't do. But you're supposed to use a thermometer while you're grilling.

Also keep food chilled. And what that means is that if there's food that's supposed to be cold -- for example, potato salad -- keep it cold until you're ready to eat it. And also keep hot foods hot. If foods are hot, keep them hot until you're ready to eat it. That's a basic tenet in food safety, keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

O'BRIEN: Campylobacter. I never heard of that. What is campylobacter? COHEN: You know, many people haven't, but it's actually very, very common. It's similar to salmonella. You would find it in chicken. So, again, it's something that can be cooked out, but you got to make sure that you cook your chicken thoroughly, and you've got to make sure that the raw chicken doesn't come in contact with salad kinds of foods, because you're not going to cook it, and then you could get the campylobacter. It's very similar to salmonella in the kind of illness it causes.

O'BRIEN: Forget about the raw, certainly not raw, but rare burgers. That's a bad idea, right?

COHEN: That is a bad idea. I think most people think, well, gee, I like my burgers medium rare. According to the USDA and other food safety experts, you're not supposed to have medium rare burgers. They should be cooked all the way through. And the reason you need to use a thermometer is sometimes people will marinate burgers in let's say a teriyaki sauce, so it looks brown and looks like it's cooked, but it's not. And only a thermometer can really tell the difference.

O'BRIEN: That's a good tip, definitely. So those thermometers are an important thing. Don't just slice into them and look at it. You need to know that temperature don't you?

COHEN: Yes, you do. And I actually have some thermometers with me. They're the traditional kinds. We thought this was kind of fun. This is a digital thermometer right here. It actually works in the air. It's now 73 degrees, I can tell you that right. And this works very quickly and it's very easy to use.

O'BRIEN: That one looks like it could inflict some torture on the...

COHEN: We use it for that when we're not grilling. And here's some where they pop up, so it can detect when the temperature is right and it pops up. That's how that one is designed.

But can you find them very easily. There are lots of different kinds out there. It seems kind of strange to be using a thermometer when you're out in the backyard grilling, but it really is the best thing.

O'BRIEN: I think that pop-up thing is a good idea. That makes it anchor-proof anyhow.

COHEN: Or idiot-proof.

O'BRIEN: Yes, whatever.

All right, Elizabeth ebola Cohen, thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate it.

COHEN: Thank you Miles salmonella O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com