Answering Food Safety Questions

These days we hear a lot about government services that don’t work well.  Whether it’s a tale of government waste or an expose of federal employees who don’t work hard, the bad stories make news.  But there are a government agencies (and employees) doing good work.  Here is one small example in an important area – food safety. 

If you’re like me, you don’t think about asking the federal government for help with food safety in your kitchen.  Sure I know about government inspection of meat and other foods, but when it comes to what happens in my own kitchen, I figured that I’m on my own.  Wrong. 

Late Monday afternoon, I had no plan for dinner, which meant that I had to go to plan B –  the hunt for leftovers.  When I checked the refrigerator for inspiration and ingredients.  I found a nice piece of grilled swordfish from Friday that we hadn’t had the chance to eat over the weekend.  I wondered, “Can we eat this?” 

As the daughter of a biochemist-mother, I’m always concerned about food-borne illness.  Being wary of food poisoning and perhaps a bit paranoid about making others sick, my first reaction was to ditch the fish and move onto another dinner plan.   

But I also hate to waste food.  So I googled “how long to keep swordfish” and came upon “Ask Karen”, a wonderful online chat service from the U.S. Dept of Agriculture Food Safety & Information Service.  The service answers food safety questions Monday through Friday 10 am – 4 pm EDT.

In minutes “Karen” told me by chat that I could serve the swordfish for 3-4 days.  Then I asked if it was OK to serve cold and “she” responded yes, as long as those eating it would not be pregnant or immune-compromised.  I decided to serve the swordfish in a pasta dish because I also had leftover pasta sauce, but was impressed that the chat yielded such specific guidance 

My follow-up to the chat was a quick-and-easy swordfish pasta that we enjoyed on Monday evening.  I’ve bookmarked the site and, at least during the hours it is open, I now have another resource (besides my own mother) for questions about food safety.