New ways to prepare our own food can be exciting, especially for anyone looking to maximize the health benefits of their food and potentially save a little money as well. If you’ve been curious about a cooking trend that is literally growing, a key tip from a new study may help ensure that the fruits of your dedication are actually safe enough for you.
The Food Safety News this weekend released their report on a study conducted by a food safety specialist at the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University. Joy Waite-Cusic, Ph.D., conducted the study to investigate a way to reduce the risk of salmonella due to an increasingly popular practice: “activating” some grains, sprouts, nuts, seeds, and legumes to cause the conditions to create a plant for it. According to Mind Body Green, activation is intended to release most of the nutritional properties of these foods, thereby providing the consumer with the greatest possible benefit.
In order to activate the process known as “germination”, an important step takes place: soaking the food in water, often overnight and in water at room temperature. However, this step, necessary for germination, can also create the kind of moisture that becomes a hospitable habitat for the growth of harmful microorganisms and causes contamination of these foods.
Fortunately, Waite-Cusic’s study led to three valuable discoveries. She and her research team inoculated 15 grains, nuts and seeds (among the 15 allegedly almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, brown rice, flax and hemp) with six different strains of salmonella bacteria and soaked them under different conditions. From their results, Food Safety News reports that refrigeration and salt during soaking significantly reduced the risk of Salmonella growth, as did the use of cold water to soak the sprouts.
Waite-Cusic said that “the inclusion of salt in the soaking process and refrigeration were seen as the most cost-effective and easiest to implement options for changing current practices”.
Nothing beats simple kitchen solutions as keeping food safe is so important. Read what happened when cashew contamination got sick in at least 7 people in 3 states after consuming this recalled food.
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