Warning: Germs can spoil holidays

As Utahns sit down for the feast that marks the start of the holiday season Thursday, it's important to make sure the guest list doesn't include names like hepatitis A and E. coli.

Grocery shoppers this week may have been surprised to see signs from the FDA warning against using green onions, because of a hepatitis A outbreak traced to onions imported from Mexico.

But consumers are growing used to warnings about food safety, said Charlotte Brennand, food safety specialist at Utah State University's extension office. Raw eggs, food left out too long or prepared at the wrong temperature, even use of the same dish towel to dry hands and wipe up a small spill can all cause food-borne illness.

So, what's a cook to do?

You can start by introducing a new tradition to family gatherings, Brennand said: The group hand wash. Everyone should wash their hands immediately before they eat. Doing so would eliminate a lot of illness. Hands should also be washed thoroughly every time you use the bathroom — but don't touch the door knob with that clean bare hand — and before and after you handle food, touch your eyes, nose or mouth, or have a drink.

It's not just hands that need to be washed, said Dr. Philip Bossart, an emergency room physician at University Hospital. "You need to get in the habit of washing your food. Period. It's not a problem specific to green onions. It can happen to a lot of foods. It's shortsighted to just cut that vegetable out of your diet," he said.

After all, consumers have had warnings about the safety of cantaloupe not long ago and watermelon before that. Lettuce and sprouts have been implicated in outbreaks of illness. The list is long.

Bossart said the holidays won't bring a mad rush of people to emergency rooms for food-borne illness. Most who get one will simply feel ill and deal with it, then recover. Emergency rooms will be busier, though, because it's open on holidays. And ER visits go up when people have leisure time for sports, travel and use of alcohol.

Still, he asks, who needs even a self-limiting, food-borne illness?

The average American home is an "alarmingly dangerous place," said Dr. Philip M. Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at New York University Medical Center. Author of "The Secret Life of Germs," he just finished a nationwide Harris Poll that asked about "five hotbeds" for germs in the home. Most of the problem areas are particularly relevant during the holidays, when people gather to eat and socialize and, in some cases, make each other sick.