Photo by IANR

When buying meat on sale, practice food safety when freezing, cooking

Check out our FREE online Bill Pay!

To save money, many people may be stocking up on hamburger and chicken sales, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln food safety specialist says.

While this is a great way to plan for future meals and save money, food safety still needs to come into play when it comes to storing and cooking this meat and poultry, said Julie Albrecht, food safety specialist in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

When freezing, consumers should be sure the meat is in a container or freezer bags so that quality stays up to par, she said.

"If the meat is wrapped in paper at the grocery store, it still is a good idea to put it in a freezer bag or another freezer-safe container," she said. "In addition, the freezer should be kept at a temperature of zero degrees and below."

Kept at this temperature, meat should stay fresh for three to nine months. If the freezer can get to below zero, it can keep for an even longer time.

"Freezers connected to refrigerators are only meant for short-term storage and can only keep meat fresh for about three months," she said.

It also is important to remember that freezing food does not kill all bacteria. Proper cooking is still needed, Albrecht said.

"When it comes to thawing the meat, be sure that is done in the refrigerator and not the counter. Be sure that juices do not leak and contaminate other food," she said.

When cooking the meat, hamburger must be cooked to 160 degrees to be safe to eat. Chicken needs to be cooked to 165 degrees to be safe.

These are temperatures that can kill potentially deadly bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella.

"The key thing is to cook meat and poultry properly," she said. A meat thermometer should be used to make sure that the meat is cooked to the proper internal temperature.

"Meat thermometers are inexpensive and available at most grocery and discount stores," she said.

When preparing food, it is important that meat and poultry juices do not come in contact with other foods and that all surfaces are cleaned and sanitized.

A bleach solution (one teaspoon chlorine bleach per gallon of water) or antibacterial spray or wipe should be used to clean surfaces.

If using a kitchen dish towel or sponge to clean up spills, be sure that it is laundered right away or put in the bleach solution. Cutting boards should be cleaned off with a bleach solution or simply put in the dishwasher.

"Dish towels should be changed frequently anyway, or paper towels could be used,"Albrecht said.

Albrecht recommends people have on hand several dish towels, which also are inexpensive.

Additional Nebraska Extension resources to meet today's challenges are available at the UNL Managing Tough Times Web site at http://www.toughtimes.unl.edu.

Cool, wet weather may cause tomato, potato late blight

Cool, wet and foggy conditions across eastern parts of Nebraska are responsible for an unusual late-season tomato and potato disease that can quickly kill the plants.

Late blight is striking potato and tomato plants, said Amy Ziems, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic coordinator.

"We have confirmed the blight in the Fremont area and in the Omaha metro area," Ziems said. "It is being found because of the cool and wet conditions we've been having with temperatures at the 70 and 80 degree mark."

Blight can kill the plant's leaves after two to three days and cause the tomato fruit and potato tubers to rot after they've been picked, she said.

Signs of late blight include a dark green water-silk lesion. As it continues to grow, the edge turns brown and the lesion will dry up. Under really humid and foggy conditions, white spores will be present underneath the leaf.

On the fruit, it causes at first a dark, greasy looking lesion that within two days will completely expand a soft rot to the whole fruit so it can't be eaten.

This is similar for potatoes.

"If you have infected potato plants, it can go down into the tuber, and a lot of times cause a soft rot while in storage," she said. "If you harvest potatoes in the next month or two, they may look fine, but when you go back and get the potato out of your storage area in December or January, it will be completely rotten."

This is the same pathogen that caused the 1850s potato famine in Ireland, causing millions of people to immigrate from Ireland to the United States to avoid starvation.

Ziems said there has been a sizable outbreak in the northeast United States, which started in June. It hit commercial organic tomato production especially hard. Organic tomato prices have skyrocketed in the northeast and many organic tomato producers had to go out of organic production.

Fungicides are available to treat the disease, but they must be applied immediately after symptoms are spotted.

"For commercial growers, be sure to scout heavily. If you see one symptom, you need to spray," Ziems said.

Be sure to follow label instructions. The fruit will still be safe to eat after applying the fungicide.

Gardeners with infected plants this year should remove them immediately and throw them away.

"Don't put them in the compost pile, throw them in the trash," Ziems said. "The disease can overwinter if a compost pile doesn't get warm enough."

For more information about late blight, consult the Sept. 3 episode of "Backyard Farmer" available at http://byf.unl.edu.

Protect frost tender, sensitive crops

Gardens can be productive well into the fall when given proper care through the growing season. With the advent of cooler temperatures, vegetable color, flavor and sweetness improve and a second crop of broccoli, lettuces, radishes, beets and mustard greens can be enjoyed.

However, the highly variable temperatures in Nebraska that characterize the changing seasons can make gardeners wonder how to protect the garden from a sudden drop in temperature.

Gardeners should look at what is in the garden and identify the crops that are sensitive to frost or are "frost tender." These are often crops that originated in tropical or sub-tropical places such as the solanaceous vegetables, which include tomatoes, peppers and eggplants and the many cucurbits, which include melons, summer squashes and cucumbers, plus snapbeans and sweet potatoes.

Frost-tolerant vegetables often originated in northern or temperate climates. These include the various cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, kohlrabi and cauliflower; cole crops like beets, Swiss chard, kale, cabbage and spinach: and root vegetables, such as carrots, beets, radishes, parsnips, and turnips.

When a sudden temperature decline is forecast, growers first should protect the most sensitive frost tender crops. Damage usually occurs in these crops when temperatures dip into the low 30s and 40s.

To do this:

• Water the soil around the plants. Wet soil holds more heat than dry soil and this retained heat will be released when the air temperature around the plant is less than the soil temperature. This is particularly effective in elevating soil temperatures when the day is sunny and warm before an overnight temperature dip. Well-watered plants are less susceptible to chilling injury.

• Use row covers to hold heat around the crop plants. Row covers can be made from many materials, such as old bed sheets, newspapers, old sheer curtains, or purchased lightweight non-woven polyester. Places on the plants where the row cover touches may have frost damage. Support stakes or wires can be used to support the cover and edges should be secured to the ground to reduce heat leakage and wind damage.

Openings for plants planted in black plastic mulch act as chimneys, allowing soil and air heat under the mulch to escape, providing some additional warmth in the crown area of the plants. Although some of this heated air will be captured by the plant canopy, use of row covers will provide additional protection.

Frost-tolerant vegetables are the delight of the fall garden, often providing fresh vegetables until late November. These crops are generally tolerant of temporary temperature dips or night temperatures into the upper 20s and 30s. While using the protective measures described for tender vegetables will be beneficial, many can withstand their leaves freezing during the night.

Don't try to harvest frozen or frosted leafy greens (lettuce, chard, etc.) or try to thaw the leaves by sprinkling with water. Frozen cells will burst with the sudden change. Continued harvests depend on the leaves thawing gradually as the air temperature slowly rises during the morning hours. Harvest more mature leaves a leaf or two at a time, leaving the smaller leaves protected for continued growth. Just before the final killing frost, harvest the entire top but leave the roots and the apical center of growth.

By leaving the plants to over-winter in the ground, perhaps with a covering of mulch, you may be rewarded with an early harvest of spring greens.

Cultivars differ in their adaptability and each year weather conditions are different so your own experience is the best guide. Spinach, kale, collards, and Swiss chard are most adapted to over-wintering in Nebraska.

Keeping fresh produce safe

Farmers pulled their trucks onto an empty parking lot. Displaying their produce on the tailgates of their vehicles, to their delight, customers quickly arrived, parked their cars and strolled among the trucks purchasing the fresh fruits and vegetables. And so the Farmers Market became an instant institution.

The colorful variety of fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that help us maintain a healthy weight, protect against the effects of aging, and reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease. Eating a rainbow of colors will provide you with fiber, folate, potassium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C as well as many other nutrients.

Take precautions to keep your fruits and vegetable safe to eat;

· Go directly home from the market. Foods can decline in quality if left sitting in your car.

· Different fruits and vegetables require different temperature and humidity levels for proper storage. Bananas, melons, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and winter squash taste best if stored at room temperature. Store fruits and vegetables in a clean, dry, well-ventilated place, away from direct sunlight.

· Some produce can be ripened on the counter and then stored in the refrigerator. Avocados, kiwi, nectarines, peaches, pears and plums are best ripened on the countertop. Avoid placing produce in a sealed plastic bag as this may increase off-odors and decay.

· Most other fruit and vegetables keep best stored in a clean refrigerator. Use your refrigerator crisper drawer for whole produce. Use separate drawers for fruits and vegetables as fruits give off ethylene gas, which can shorten the storage life of vegetables.

· Refrigerate fruits and vegetable in perforated plastic bags. Unperforated plastic bags can lead to the growth of mold or bacteria. If you don’t have access to commercial, food grade, perforated bags, use a sharp object to make several small holes in a food-grade plastic bag (about 20 holes per medium-size bag).

· If fruits and vegetables are placed on refrigerator shelves, store meats on plates below the produce, not above.

· Wash hands before working with produce.

· Wash produce thoroughly before you use it, NOT when you bring it home. Fresh produce has a natural protective coating that helps keep in moisture and freshness.

· Don’t use soap or detergent as it can get into the produce and make you sick. Rub briskly, scrubbing with a clean brush or hand. Dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.

· Remember to rinse produce even when the peel is removed – such as for melons and citrus fruits. Bacteria on the outside of produce can be transferred to the inside when produce is cut or peeled. Refrigerate cut or peeled fruits and vegetables within two hours.

Take a stroll through a Farmers Market; it’s a great place. Enjoy the walk and your bounty of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables.

Source: The Garden Grocery, http://lancaster.unl.edu by Nan Rankin, NEP Extension Assistant.