Gothic tales speak of a garlic clove or two a day possessing the power to keep vampires at bay.
In that same vein, a few teaspoons of the pungent spice or two may ward off potentially deadly food-borne pathogens from this summer's backyard barbecue. Fung's work with rapid detection of microorganisms in food has earned him international acclaim. He recommends meat be cooked to a temperature of 160 F for safety. Fung and his research assistants, Erdagon Celyan and Judith Sabah, released their findings at the annual conference of the Institute of Food Technologists. Last summer research by Fung and Ceylan discovered that adding cinnamon to apple cider can also fight E. coli.