High Risk Foods

Those foods which are classified as being “high risk foods” are implicated in at least 75% of all food poisoning cases.

High risk foods include:

• Cooked meat and poultry
• Dairy products and eggs
• Shellfish
• Cooked rice

Cooked meat and poultry

Cooked meat and products with cooked meat in them, such as gravy, soup, and stocks, are particularly rich in nutrients. Bacteria love these nutrients and, especially in warm conditions, even a small number of bacteria will become millions in a short time.

Dairy products and eggs

Products such as mayonnaise, custard and cream often cause food poisoning. This usually happens because they’ve been kept in warm conditions. Once you’ve opened the mayonnaise jar be sure to keep it in the fridge. Some cheeses are also considered to be high risk.

Shellfish

Shellfish may eat food that is contaminated and may also pick up bacteria and viruses from polluted water. Make sure you buy your shellfish – prawns, mussels, oysters, crabs, lobsters etc – from a reputable source or supplier. There is more risk from eating raw shellfish, so for all you oyster lovers out there – watch out! Once again, many people (including me) choose to take this risk but you should at least be aware of the risk in the first place.

Cooked rice

This seems like a strange one to have in the “high risk” category because most people would think that rice was perfectly benign and harmless. Not so.

Bacterial spores can be found in dry rice and then the spores become active again when water is added during the cooking process. Some of these bacterial spores can even survive the cooking temperature of boiling water! Cooked rice should be eaten immediately or refrigerated, otherwise the bacteria will multiply and produce a toxin which may survive even if the rice is reheated before being eaten.

Foods containing salt, sugar or acid (eg vinegar) discourage the growth of bacteria.

This is Chapter Two, Part Three in a series of articles broadly similar to the course offered by the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health for its Food Hygiene Certificate.
Part Four: The Danger Zone
Return to the start of Chapter Two