Consumer safety articles, such as mine, often report how something seemingly innocuous will actually kill you, or at the very least, leave you maimed and crippled. In deference to this great modern media tradition, here’s my hysteria-inducing list:
1. Cookie dough (and anything else containing raw eggs): In addition to the risk of E. coli discussed in the article, eating egg-containing dough prior to baking it puts you at risk for Salmonella.
2. Fish: Sushi, sashimi, and ceviche can carry multiple parasites. My favorite is Diphyllobothrium latum, an intestinal tapeworm transmitted by freshwater fish such as salmon, which can grow 30 feet long and live 20 years.
3. Sprouts: Alfalfa, bean, and other sprouts carry Salmonella, E. coli, and Bacillus bacteria due to the warm, humid environments in which they’re grown. Washing the surface of the sprouts does not eliminate the chance of illness, as the bacteria can live internally. Raw sprouts are not recommended for children, the elderly, or people with weakened immune systems.
4. Beef and pork: Avoiding raw meat is a no-brainer, until you see it on the menu with an appetizing name like tartare or carpaccio. There’s a long list of diseases you could get from raw meat, so I’ll mention only one: neurocysticercosis, a parasite from undercooked pork that crawls from your intestine up to your brain, where it can live for years and cause seizures.
…and finally, no “Everybody Panic!” list is complete without at least one way you might inadvertently kill your child:
5. Honey: Honey contains bacterial spores that cause botulism, a disease that’s usually fatal if untreated. While adults and children have high stomach acid levels that kill the spores in honey, infants do not. Children less than a year old should not eat honey.
Gregg A. Miller
Gregg Miller, MD is a board-certified emergency room physician. Not nearly as good-looking as the doctors on the TV show ER, lacking the charisma of Dr. House, and much less scandalous than anyone on Grey’s Anatomy, he still managed to carve out a niche ...
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Oliver Miller says:
So, sometimes I buy a bunch of ground beef to make hamburgers with, and then I'm too lazy to make hamburgers, so I just eat the raw beef, and in my head I'm like - "Steak Tartare!" ...Am I going to die soon?
fredarthur says:
Doesn't the long life expectancy of Japanese people suggest that raw fish is, in fact, pretty healthy?
Fussy in Frisco says:
Really Gregg- sushi. Come on! Pretty slip-shod journalism. I prefer the more nuanced writing of a say...Kellie Schmidt. Now that's a writer!
estellar says:
I think you've confused general foods to beware of with the pregnancy no-no list. We all know that the joys that come with eating raw cookie dough and sushi FAR outweigh death or a little kidney failure (but *maybe* not the death of a baby)! If you're generally healthy, just try not to eat foods that are covered in mold or have turned some nasty color other than their original hue. With this in mind you can resume enjoying your life!
Gregg A. Miller says:
To fredarthur: I think you make a good point, but on the other hand, tapeworms don't usually kill--the longer you live, the longer they live. Hmmm, an interesting hypothesis, maybe tapeworms actually help you live longer...
To Fussy: it's true, there's no way I'll ever make it to the journalistic pinnacle Kellie Schmitt has summitted, and let's face it, the girl loves sushi too. I don't know what I was thinking.
To everyone else reading this article, I just want you to know I still eat sushi--though not as much since med school as it makes me second guess what (or who) is making that gurgling sound in my stomach!
Kate D says:
...No.
Sorry, nope. Gonna keep on eating all five of these things. Raw meat such as carpaccio or sushi is normally very high quality and clean. Pork is like chicken and seafood, you shouldn't eat it raw, fine, but beef and fish should be safe as long as you get it from a good restaurant. I'll take the minor risk of a tapeworm for carpaccio.
Salmonella is only a threat if there is a salmonella breakout in the chickens the eggs are coming from.
You've made this article sound like it's meant for healthy adults, while some of these things are only problems for people with weak immune systems.
Jessica Apple says:
Gregg, maybe there is something to your tapeworm hypothesis :)... hookworms are kind of having their day now...studies are testing them as treatment for MS and other diseases too, I think.
I wish you'd left sprouts off your list!
Respectful Dissent says:
Sushi and sashimi are fine if they've been frozen first, which most commercial sushi has been. And Japanese women don't stop eating sushi when they're pregnant, btw.
An interesting question to ask would be, if someone didn't eat these foods, what would they be eating instead? I know I'd rather eat sushi and carpaccio than a lot of fast foods or processed foods--playing dietary roulette versus eating highly unnatural foods.
Gregg A. Miller says:
Jessica, thanks for the comment. I was also surprised to find out about sprouts when I was researching this article. Here’s a link to an article describing the CDCs recommendations that the young, old, and immunocompromised should stay away from them. http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/r990809.htm
Gregg A. Miller says:
Respectful Dissent, I think you make a good point about how this is all about risk management—if you don’t risk one thing in life, chances are, you’re risking something else, and there are plenty of things that are worse to eat than raw fish. Here’s an interesting article about sushi that discusses freezing fish and restaurant vs. home preparation. http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/sushi It also points out that every year 2,000 Japanese get intestinal parasites from raw fish, but well-prepared sushi from experienced chefs is generally safe. Here’s another interesting article about sushi: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/world/americas/22iht-fish.1.15539112.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sushi%20John%20Shwartz&st=cse After reading that and looking at the kind of sushi places I’ve gone to (cheap and cheerful), I have less faith in chefs, and have cut down. Fortunately, I haven’t replaced sushi with happy meals…yet.
Norman says:
But Gregg, I read about people reading the lottery every week! Funny thing is, it's never me - is it...
I've eaten raw eggs, nothing happened. I've eaten undercooked hamburger (which is supposed to be bad unlike steak) twice, one was still bleeding and the other frozen in the centre - nothing happened.
I've eaten pizza left out overnight countless times - nothing happened.
A friend of mine left a curry on the side he didn't want from a takeaway for two days, so I ate it - and rice is supposed to be oh so bad I'm told but guess what? Nothing happened.
Undercooked, unsmoked bacon - nothing happens - I eat all those vegetables it says don't eat raw, raw - nothing ever happens. Sometimes I don't even bother to wash the organic ones. Nothing happens...
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laptop-battery-gateway says:
Is that true? All of these 5 foods are my favorite, especially for the fish. I like fish so much. But maybe I should escape from them for most of the times.
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