From bacteria to toxic infections, when buffets and aperitifs become a nightmare

2023-07-11 17:32:23

Summer occasions can take us to the middle of a buffet spread for an aperitif or an after-dinner drink, or for classic refreshments in a ceremony, or for a table set up in an ‘all you can eat’ place. But if temperatures touch 40 degrees, these events can turn into a nightmare. “Distracting from the idea of ​​’how much’ to fill the plate, it would be necessary to concentrate on the dominant thought of ‘how’ to fill it. Yes, because, in the absence of even one of the few but indispensable basic rules of hygiene, those inviting mass-produced dishes can become a subtle source, however tantalizing, of food poisoning caused by pathogenic microbes or their toxins, with mainly (but not exclusively) gastrointestinal symptoms characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and sometimes even fever”. Thus at time.news Salute the immunologist Mauro Minelli, professor of Dietetics and human nutrition at the Lum University of Bari.

“On the other hand, uncontrolled bacterial growth, and therefore risky for the consumer, can easily occur both with dairy products based on unpasteurized milk, and with meat served cold after being cooked in moist sauces or even with raw or undercooked – he observes – Speaking of raw foods, in addition to the well-known risk of parasitosis from ‘anisakis simplex’ related to the intake of fish that has not been adequately blast chilled, it should also be remembered that raw fish, when not properly cleaned, gutted and stored, can be transformed into a vehicle for bacterial infections”.

“In front of a buffet, particular attention should also be paid to those dishes prepared with eggs and derivative products or with mayonnaise which, if exposed for more than a few hours to a temperature above 5 degrees, will soon become for some incautious consumers, the cause of possible ‘visceral embarrassment’. A final note should be reserved precisely for the ‘hungry’ – concludes Minelli – eager patrons unaware of what a buffet usually displays, albeit with apparent care. It is true that it is not easy to discriminate the quality of the food simply by looking at it, but the color, the smell and the first taste immediately evoked by the assumption of a food, are the guiding elements of a careful choice that can effectively compensate for what improvisation and scarce skills sometimes offer with the tacit complicity of the summer heat”.