Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Food at Sporting Events

For my first blog i am choosing the foods that are being served at sporting events. Almost all chilled food served at professional sporting events and leisure events falls below basic hygiene standards. I know when we see that greasy sausage with onions and peppers our mouths water , cause mine certainly does. but after i read some facts on concession food i may think twice next time.
Last year all but half of the meals/ items were tested at four major events passed industry standards and public health guidelines. Some of the serious breaches included listeria in a smoked salmon sandwich, e .coli in a crepe and staphylococcus in a grilled chicken caesar salad. Only a third of the food tested managed a clean bill of health and a fifth had "unacceptably high" levels of bacteria caused by faecal contamination. Because of this a food safety consultant and a microbiologist were sent to events held between december and march in a stadium in london. The inspectors bought 93 hot, chilled and room temperature foods from 47 food vans and stalls across 4 events. Each of the samples were tested in a lab for a range of bacteria including e.coli, bacillus, listeria, salmonella and mold. All of the chilled food at 2 events failed the test from either wrong storage or contaminated by dirty hands. Only a quarter of the foods sampled at 2 events passed the tests. Inspectors found e.coli which can cause diarrhoea and vomiting. They found staphylococcus aureaus, which can cause stomach upsets. Also listeria was found in a smoked salmon sandwich which can cause septicaemia and miscarriage in pregnant women.
These cases were found overseas in london, but how do we know here in the states there arent cases like this we dont hear about. When i go to a sporting event i admit i buy a lot of food from concessions. Now that i have heard about foods failing tests i may just think about eating before hand or just being a little more carefull.