Elegant Survival

"But oh, oh, oh, who's got the last laugh now?"--the old standard song asks. The listeria outbreak generated by poorly-washed cantaloupe melons reminds me of something egregious that I brought to the attention of the Health Department at Princeton in the late 1990s, which they flippantly laughed-off and ridiculed. Yet, people are now dying from that very sort of carelessness and ignorance. I wrote about the experience in 2007 on this website's Elegant Cuisine page:

Don't buy prepared foods at the supermarket. Instead of spending a lot on dubiously produced dishes, you are better off spending twenty minutes cooking, and will be in control of what goes into your dishes, as well as of its quality and cleanliness. Many expensive restaurants get demerits from their respective municipal health departments. Some of them are shut down for infractions. Cooks at restaurants are often carriers of hepatitis and other ills. Roaches, mice, rats and flies get into the food supply in restaurants, and carry disease. Imagine, then, the food-preparation area in the back room of a supermarket, with various non-professional employees having a hand (perhaps dirty hands) in making your food. I once bought half a watermelon from a fancy supermarket in Princeton, New Jersey. When I got it home, I noticed that they had carelessly cut it in half while it had a coating of dirt and no doubt manure on its outside--their knife must have gone right through that hazardous material, causing the interior of the melon to be contaminated. I had to return the offending item to that store, and talk to a callous store manager. His lack of proper response brought me to the health department at Princeton Borough Hall, where I was met with more complacency. No one cares what goes into your food like you do. Think of how infrequently supermarkets are inspected. Protect yourself and save money by buying your own ingredients, preferably from factories with standards.

The officials are recommending care in washing produce to prevent listeria and other food-borne infections. To prevent catching a disease (or two) from fresh fruits and vegetables, do not buy them pre-cut or halved at the market. Take them home whole, and scrub them with vinegar or anti-bacterial soap until you see no vestige of dirt on their outsides before cutting into them. 

©M-J de Mesterton