Don Schaffner had Thai takeout for dinner a few nights ago, just as he did occasionally in the weeks and months before the current COVID-19 pandemic.
That's worth knowing. Schaffner is a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey whose expertise includes quantitative microbial risk assessment, predictive food microbiology, hand-washing and cross-contamination.
"I know people are worried, but from what we know currently about the virus, it's safe to eat food prepared at restaurants so long as you take the proper precautions — in particular hand-washing," says Schaffner.
As the coronavirus spreads in the U.S. and Americans heed directives to stay home, takeout and delivery of prepared food is picking up. Yet in these fearful times, many of us are wondering if eating takeout is a good idea. (Plus shouldn't we be cooking all those groceries we stocked up on?)
Luckily for lazy cooks, eating food prepared in restaurants appears to be a safe choice. Current guidance from the Food and Drug Administration states that "there is no evidence to suggest that food produced in the United States can transmit COVID-19."
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10 comments:
No thank you. I'll support local when this mess is all over with. I see numerous filthy rich restaurant owners still trying to promote their business. You didn't see construction workers posting on Facebook asking for help back in 2008 when the housing market crashed.
A university professor says it's ok to eat carry out food. That's all I need to know.
A Professor from UMES said that as long as the workers are healthy and virus free than eating take out is safe.
This would be a great time to go back to the old ways. Take time and teach your loved ones to cook, even something simple.
9:25 - my observation is that, on average, the folks who work these places aren’t exactly rocket scientists. That said, I would think that it is far safer to prepare your own food than to leave it to chance that someone else actually washed their hand and observed required safety protocols. Frankly, to eat anything that anyone else prepares is not a terribly smart idea for the foreseeable future.
I think the UMES comment is a joke, it is just stating the obvious. Any idiot knows this.
I have watched a lot of news reporting from restaurants showing the workers cooking food. Cooks leaning over the stove with long hair and beards and no hair nets! I think I will no longer order take out or even eat in when that happens in the future.
If you are paranoid about take out. Bring it home, put it on your own plates out of the containers. THROW AWAY CONTAINER OUTSIDE IN TRASH. WASH YOUR HANDS AND EAT DINNER.
Without takeout and fast food, I would be going hungry.
Fast food takeout is never safe to eat. And if a restaurant is offended in any way by your order or demeanor when placing to order, you can best bet that they will do the same thing to your food that they do when they are open and serving you. You'll never see that spit in your order......
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