Good Practices to Follow When Deciding What to Order to Minimize Your Chance of Contracting a Food Poisoning

Certain foods and processes are inherently more dangerous when ordered at a restaurant. For anyone that has experienced the pain and debilitating effects of a food poisoning, knowing how to identify higher risk foods and processes when deciding what to order is a valuable resource. This can be especially important if there are other questionable signs at this establishment (See Food Poisoning Prevention Home Page to learn more). Here are things to consider when sitting down and looking through the menu, deciding on what do order:

Order foods or dishes that are mostly made-to-order. This means most of the processing and especially the cooking of the main part of the dish (the meat, chicken or seafood part) is done after it is ordered. If it is not clear on the menu then ask questions. From mine and others experience, temperature abuses or violations are more likely to occur on foods that the cooks are attempting to keep warm in a steam table or warmer unit than a refrigeration unit. Because of these concerns many restaurants are focusing nowadays on more made-to-order dishes.

Stick with ordering foods that you are familiar with, either because you have had it many times before or you know how it is prepared, and thus know what the dangers or dangerous signs might be. You are more likely to spot an out of the ordinary appearance, taste or smell

Know the minimum cooking temperatures of the meat and seafood products you like (see the USDA chart at www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Keep_Food_Safe_Food_Safety_Basics/index.asp and make a request that the food be cooked to at least this temperature. For example, when ordering a hamburger, ask for it to be cooked to an internal temperature of no less than 160 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a very reasonable request.

Avoid raw or rare meats, eggs and seafoods! I know for those of you who love sushi, sashimi, raw oysters, rare hamburgers, or the many raw egg sauces (hollandaise, béarnaise etc.) this is blasphemous. But the fact is that normal cooking kills most, if not all bacteria, viruses and parasites. You are at a higher risk of becoming ill, and in my opinion playing with fire, if you consume these types of raw or rare foods.

If you are the type of person that just can not imagine life without these more risky raw or rare foods, but still have at least a partial concern for food safety, all is not lost. I suggest the following:

Regularly review and investigate the restaurants’ inspection and violation history. Look at previous inspections for temperature violations and request inspection histories. Look in the inspection histories for food-borne illness investigations. If a member of the public or a doctor reports a food-borne illness case to the local department of public health and it appears to be legitimate, a special type of inspection will be conducted. This inspection is generally known as a food-borne illness investigation and will be recorded in the facility’s inspection history. This type of inspection will not always be made public such as on the website, but it is part of the inspection record and is thus public record.

Familiarize yourself with the sources of the type of seafood you like and the dangers that come from that part of the world, or are common or endemic with that particular fish or shellfish. If the menu does not state what the source of the seafood is, ask to see the invoice and write down the business name (it could be the distributor or packer). For example, Gulf of Mexico oysters are more likely to cause illness because they come from warmer waters where certain pathogenic bacteria are present at dangerous levels. Therefore, it is more risky to eat raw gulf oysters than northern pacific oysters where the waters are much colder and provide a safer environment from this bacteria. Contact your local city or county Environmental Health Food Inspection program or the state or federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to determine if the business is a legitimate licensed facility to sell or distribute the seafood.

Investigate the training that your restaurant chef received. Look for or ask about food safety certificates, degrees etc. There is the internationally renowned California Sushi Academy which advertises itself “as the first vocational school specializing in the training and certification of sushi chefs.” Any advanced training beyond just on-the-job training is a positive.

Doing this bit of research has never been easier. Many local public health programs now publicize the inspection results on the internet as well as require food facilities to post inspection grades, scores and even make the inspection reports available for review by the public upon request. There are also private web sites and business that are popping up on the internet that are posting this public information.

About the Author

Michael Doom worked as a Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) for Los Angeles County for more than 21 years. For most of these years he worked as a field inspector and Supervising Senior REHS in the retail food inspection programs. His experience within Los Angeles County has taken him to some of the smallest “mom and pop” restaurants and markets in the poorest areas of south Los Angeles, as well as to the largest facilities and affluent areas on the west side. He has literally conducted thousands of inspections of numerous types of restaurants, food markets, warehouses, events, and more; educated hundreds, if not more than a thousand, food facility owners, managers and employees on food sanitation and food safety, and how to prevent food poisoning hazards; has supervised more than 50 field inspectors that were responsible for an inventory of food facilities larger than many U.S. states.

Mr. Doom has a B.S. in Biology from Loyola Marymount University, an REHS with the state of California, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP®) credential from the Project Management Institute, and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. Mr. Doom continuously works to expand his knowledge and experience in the subject of food safety, sanitation and food poisoning prevention.

He can be reached at Mike@foodpoisoningprevention.com