When referring to food poisoning, most people immediately think of food meant to be kept cold or that expires quickly, such as milk, meat, and other dairy products. However, there are many unexpected foods that can easily become contaminated.
- Cereal
It may sound strange, but cereal is actually one of the most common foods that carry Salmonella. In 2018, there were a string of recalls of popular cereals, one of the most notable and widespread being Kellog’s Honey Smacks cereal. According to Kit Redwine in the article “Food Poisoning Can Come from Unusual Sources Like Cereal or Ice Cream, Among Other Foods So Often Thought of as Low Risk,” “The contamination was traced back to a single ingredient: raw wheat used in the production process.” Salmonella can survive in the dryest of environments and fester until they’re consumed by their victims. It also spreads quickly, leading to outbreaks such as the one in 2018. Over the years, cereals such as Lucky Charms and Cheerios have also been linked to widespread salmonella outbreaks, despite not being confirmed.
I can, however, confirm that Cheerios Cinnamon Protein Cereal gave me food poisoning. Let me tell you, it still gives me PTSD to this day. It all started on a random Sunday morning. I sat in front of the TV, watching my favorite show, 2 Broke Girls, as I munched on the deliciously sweet cheerios. I loved the taste of the cinnamon-coated cereal, and the bowl in front of me was the first from a full box that my parents bought at the grocery store. Little did I know it would be my demise.
An hour later my mom and I left the house to go watch my friend’s middle school musical. It was a beautiful day outside, and I couldn’t wait to see the show. That’s when my stomach began rumbling. I could feel icy sweat, the kind you get when you’re about to throw up, dripping down my face. I told mom, and she pulled the car over at Starbucks so I could try using their bathroom. When I emerged from the car, I took a measly five steps before getting sick on the sidewalk. For hours afterwards, I violently threw up without pause. Even Zofran wouldn’t help. By the end of the night, I ended up in the emergency room with two bags of fluid stuck into my veins. While the puking and nausea ended after a few hours, my stomach still gets irritated by the lightest foods today. My advice? Stay away from any cereal.
2. Flour
Most people worry about salmonella from raw eggs while baking, but flour is actually more likely to carry pathogens that can make you sick. Similar to cereal, flour is a dry substance that can house diseases for long periods of time. According to Redwine, “One of the most notable outbreaks occurred in 2016, when contaminated flour led to dozens of illnesses across the U.S. The outbreak was traced back to a single mill, where the bacteria likely originated from contaminated wheat.” Redwine also explained how, “Flour is a raw agricultural product, meaning it isn’t treated to kill bacteria before it reaches consumers.” This practice is how pathogens are carried and spread throughout multiple different products. Always be cautious when using flour, and never eat anything with flour in it raw.
3. Peanut butter
Surely a nut product won’t cause you any issues unless you have an allergy, right? Surprisingly, products including nuts, such as peanut butter, are actually highly susceptible to salmonella and other diseases. Nuts are in many different foods, so when a salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter occurred in the mid-2000’s, a simple recall on one product wasn’t enough. The disease spread throughout the U.S. and left many consumers sick. “Peanut butter can be contaminated with Salmonella from manure, water, wild animals, and soil when peanuts are grown,” according to the article, “How Does Peanut Butter Get Salmonella?” “Sometimes contamination happens in the processing plant after roasting the peanuts, which may get exposed to water with the bacteria (such as through a roof leak at the processing plant).” This is essentially what happened in the 2000’s outbreak. The factory where the outbreak began was said to have been unsanitary and the perfect environment for disease to spread. If a recall for any nut product is announced, be sure to avoid any product that the nut may be included in, even if it’s a different brand than the one recalled. You never know if those nuts came from the same factory where the contamination broke out.
These are just a few foods that can cause food poisoning. In reality, anything can make you sick if handled the wrong way. Always be sure to check expiration dates, do the smell test, and cook food for the proper amount of time listed on the label. If something doesn’t seem right, it’s not worth the risk.