Nutrition Risk Factor:
Consuming potentially contaminated foods
What it means:
Consuming potentially contaminated foods includes
- consumption of cold hot dogs, lunch meat, or deli meat
- consuming tuna or salmon more than two times a week
- consuming raw milk or soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milks
- consuming sprouts
Why it’s a risk:
- Tuna or salmon may contain mercury, which is toxic in sufficient amounts
- Cold hot dogs, lunch meats, or deli meats may contain listeria, which can cause miscarriage or fetal abnormalities when consumed by pregnant women or can cause brain or blood infections when consumed by children under the age of 12
- Raw milk and soft cheeses made with unpasteurized milk may also contain listeria
- Sprouts put pregnant women and young children at risk for Salmonella or e-coli infections, which can be even more dangerous for these populations because of their weakened immune systems
What I might educate/counsel regarding:
- Eat fish, including tuna and salmon, but no more than twice a week
- Heat hot dogs, lunch meat, ham, and other deli meats to steaming before eating. This can be done in the microwave, on the stovetop (just fry both sides of lunch meat in a skillet, no need to add fat), or can be done by making a grilled sandwich. At the sub store, ask to have your meat toasted in their little oven thing.
- Purchase pasteurized milk and soft cheeses (feta, Brie, blue, queso fresco, queso blanco, etc.) made with pasteurized milk
- Avoid sprouts during pregnancy and don’t serve to children. If you must have them, heat them to steaming before eating.
Generally, the most surprising information for my clients is that deli meats carry a risk of listeria. Clients know to heat hot dogs, but are shocked to learn that cold deli meats and lunch meats carry the same risks.
Occasionally, I’ll have parents say they’ve been eating cold deli meats for forever, or been feeding their children cold deli meats for forever and haven’t had a problem. I ate cold deli meats as a child and never got listeriosis. Truth is, listeriosis is relatively uncommon–but when someone with a weakened immune system gets it (for example, a child, a pregnant woman, or an elderly person), it can have devastating effects. So, even though the event we’re trying to avoid is rare, we still recommend heating. It’s not THAT hard, and if it does keep you from Listeria, it makes a big difference.