Food Safety Tips for Game Day Celebrations; Safer Cheese Choices

RHODE ISLAND, February 7 - Ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is sharing food safety tips to make sure foodborne illness isn't invited to your gathering. Many game day favorite foods, like pizza, chicken wings, chili, and dips cannot stay at room temperature for more than 2 hours. When perishable foods are left at room temperature, bacteria can grow and cause foodborne illness.

Make a game plan to keep food at a safe temperature:

• If you're transporting food over an hour away, use an insulated bag. • If

you plan to keep food out for more than two hours: o Keep cold foods at a temperature of 40 degrees F or below by keeping food nestled in ice. o Keep hot foods at a temperature of 140 degrees F or above by placing food in a preheated oven, warming trays, chafing dishes or slow cookers. • If you do not plan to use cold or heating sources to keep food hot or cold during the game, split food into multiple portions – and serve only one portion at a time to ensure food is not out for more than 2 hours. • Perishable food should be discarded if left out for longer than 2 hours. To prevent food waste and enjoy leftovers after the game, refrigerate or freeze perishable items within 2 hours.

There are other steps you can take to keep family and friends safe from foodborne illness. Follow these food safety tips:

• Clean: Wash hands for 20 seconds before and after handling your takeout or delivered food, as well as any raw meat or poultry you prepare at home. Clean hands, surfaces and utensils with soap and water before and after meal prep and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with food with a commercial or homemade cleaning solution (1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water). • Separate: Use separate cutting boards, plates, and utensils to avoid cross-contamination between your takeout or delivery foods and any raw meat or poultry you are preparing at home. • Cook: Confirm foods are cooked or reheated to a safe internal temperature by using a food thermometer (165 F for poultry, ground meat, and leftovers). Cooking or reheating food to the right temperature kills germs.

Safer Cheese Choices for People at Higher Risk for Listeria Infection

RIDOH recommends that people at higher risk for a Listeria infection avoid any unheated queso fresco-type cheeses, even if made with pasteurized milk. This recommendation is based on updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better protect people at higher risk of Listeria infection.

Listeria infection is rare but can be especially harmful for some people. People who are pregnant, newborn babies, people who are 65 years or older, and people with weakened immune systems are all at higher risk for Listeria infection.

People can get infected with Listeria by eating contaminated food. Some foods are more likely than others to be contaminated with Listeria. Learn more about preventing Listeria infection from food.

The FDA and CDC guidance includes avoiding unheated queso fresco, or similar fresh, soft cheeses such as queso blanco and requesón. People at higher risk can still safely enjoy these cheeses if they are heated, cooked, or grilled before eating to 165°F or until steaming hot. Heating these cheese kills harmful germs like Listeria. CDC and FDA continue to recommend that people avoid any type of cheese when made with raw unpasteurized milk, especially if they are at higher risk of infection.

People at higher risk of Listeria infection can lower their risk by choosing safer cheese, such as: • Hard cheeses made with pasteurized milk, such as asiago, cheddar, parmesan, or swiss/gruyere/emmental; • Cottage cheese, cream cheese, string cheese, feta, and mozzarella, when made with pasteurized milk; and • Heated queso fresco-type cheeses or heated unpasteurized (raw) milk cheeses, when heated to 165°F or steaming hot.

RIDOH recommends people talk to their healthcare professional know if they possibly ate contaminated food. This is especially important if they are pregnant, are 65 years or older, or have a weakened immune system. If you ate food possibly contaminated with Listeria and do not feel sick, most experts believe you do not need tests or treatment. Talk to your healthcare professional if you have questions about what to do.

This updated guidance from CDC and FDA includes new information from an analysis on the latest US Listeria outbreak data and findings. From 1998 through 2022, 11 out of the 15 Listeria outbreaks linked to queso fresco-type cheeses were made with pasteurized milk. This indicates that contamination likely occurred during or after cheese-making, not from the milk. More Listeria outbreaks were linked to queso fresco-type cheeses than any other type of cheese during this period.