Fixit: Cleanliness also fights E. coli

Q Doesn't cooking hamburger kill E. coli? So when a person gets sick with E. coli from hamburger, could it have been prevented?

By Karen Youso, Star Tribune

Last update: October 23, 2007 - 6:40 PM

Q Doesn't cooking hamburger kill E. coli? So when a person gets sick with E. coli from hamburger, could it have been prevented?

A Yes, heat kills E. coli bacteria, so thorough cooking could prevent illness. However, if care is not taken prior to cooking, other foods, such as fresh vegetables cut on the same cutting board, can be contaminated with E. coli.

Meat shouldn't be contaminated with E.coli in the first place, but if the bacteria is present, it would be mixed throughout the meat. The best practice is to cook the hamburger all the way through to a temperature of 160 degrees, or until the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

As much as possible keep raw meat away from other foods and be sure to wash your hands, utensils and cutting boards thoroughly with soap and hot water after they have been in contact with raw meat.

These steps are especially important when serving meat to children and the elderly, who tend to have more severe symptoms and run a greater risk of dangerous complications from E. coli illness, health experts say. Symptoms usually develop two to five days after eating contaminated food and include stomach cramps, which can be severe, and diarrhea with stools often turning bloody, according to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

God bless 'em

Q My little boy asked me a question I can't answer. When people sneeze, why do we say "God bless you"?

A It's a custom that goes back thousands of years, and versions of it appear among many people and places.

St. Gregory, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in the year 590, has been credited with originating the custom of saying "God bless you" after sneezing. The story is that he enjoined its use during a pestilence in which sneezing was a mortal symptom.

Aristotle, however, mentions a similar custom among the Greeks, and Thucydides tells that sneezing was a crisis symptom of the great Athenian plague.

The Romans followed the same custom, their usual exclamation being "Absit omen!"

The Parsees hold that sneezing indicates that evil spirits are abroad, and there are similar beliefs in India, Africa, ancient and modern Persia and among North American Indian tribes.

From "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable," edited by Ivor H. Evans

Send your questions to Fixit in care of the Star Tribune, 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488, or call 612-673-9033, or e-mail fixit@startribune.com. Past columns are available at www.startribune.com/fixit. Sorry, Fixit cannot supply individual replies.

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