Millions of Americans become sick every year from illnesses carried in food.
Bacteria growing in food cause gastrointestinal illness and in some cases even death.
Most of these illnesses can be prevented with proper food handling, but a survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many people don't practice safe food handling. Doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say one simple thing you can do to help prevent food-borne illness is to wash your hands and all surfaces with soap and water after handling raw meat or poultry. Yet up to a quarter of the people surveyed don't do that. Uncooked or undercooked food, including eggs and ground beef, are known to be risky. Eggs can be contaminated with the salmonella bacteria, and undercooked ground beef often carries E. coli.