Sodium azide, a highly toxic substance used to inflate airbags in cars, was found the leftover drinks. The author writes that as a child she would accompany her mother to her farmer's market down the street from our house in a small Ontario town, where chickens and ducks squawked in their cages and the towns' women thought nothing of taking them home, squeezed tight under their armpits, to wring their necks in their back yards. The egg man came by a couple times a week in a horse and cart, and the milkman delivered to our back porch daily. Today, the author writes, she worries about salmonella from the chickens and turkeys from the supermarket. But the problem isn't just meat, as the Odwalla apple juice scare made clear.
Baked potatoes held at room temperature in foil wrap, devoid of oxygen, are prone to botulism.
Outbreaks of Salmonella have, the story says, been caused by tomatoes, mustard cress, bean sprouts, cantaloupe and watermelon. Confine meat packages to the sink while opening, so that any potentially contaminated juices go down the drain. When preparing food with raw meat products, have all the cooking dishes and utensils you plan to use out on the counter before you begin. Use separate utensils and plates for raw and cooked meats. Don't touch knobs, drawer pulls or light switches with contaminated hands.