I have been looking for years for a way to heat my eggnog recipe for safety.  We have not had real homemade eggnog for years because we have four children and I have been afraid to let them have it.  I may try to use the info in this recipe you have to pasteurize my own recipe.  Or do you have info on how to do this also?  Anyway, thanks and Happy Holidays!"

This has been a concern of mine for some time.  Read Eggs and Old Wives Tales.   I haven't found a "real" recipe yet, although I have seen ads for pasteurized eggs, which I haven't been able to find in our local markets.  I'd love to find them so I could have poached eggs on toast from time to time.  You might have a look in your supermarket for this type of egg, which could be used in eggnog with a reasonable degree of safety.  Never the less, keep the beverage well refrigerated.

The only alternative I can offer is the recipe on our site, Lactose-free Eggnog.  Naturally, for those without a lactose intolerance problem, regular milk, either low fat, filled or regular, can be used in place of Lactaid 100.

Jazmin tea... it makes me feel so good and gives me lots of energy! But what are the known benefits of this tea...?    

Question #2    Asian Slim tea... this tea acts as a laxative, but only make it mild.  Are these teas good for you as a laxative?

Lila, I'd have to have a lot more information before I could answer that one.  I checked both names on search engines and didn't even come up with anything for either one.  What brand are they?  What herbs do they contain?

As to question #1:  lots of very dangerous things make you feel good (we won't list them here, but we all know what some of them are, right?).

As to question #2:  taking any herbal remedy to lose weight or as a laxative (or worse, both) is very often an invitation to trouble. 

I'm not saying that's the case with your teas.  Just that you need to be careful and think about what you are putting into your body; it's the only one you have!

That said,  I admit I take a number of herbal remedies and teas myself.  Some herbal remedies have great effects.    But I would NEVER take any without pretty much being sure of what I was getting and what it was doing for me, and what the possible side effects might be.  

I have always been interested in herbal and dietary remedies and tonics.  I got this interest from my great-aunt, Amelia Hine.   In her younger days, before antibiotics, simple surgical procedures and wide-spread vaccines, she was somewhat of an herb doctor in the area where she lived, for people and animals too.  I didn't pay much attention to this when I was very young, and then we moved far away.   As a teenager, however,  I spent a couple of months with her shortly before she died, and by then I had studied a lot of biology and botany and was very interested in the subject.  I found that I could bring her a leaf or a whole plant, and although totally blind, mostly deaf and bedridden, she would feel the leaf, smell it and sometimes taste it, and pretty soon describe the entire plant to me; the color, where it grew, the type of flower, and what it was used for.

Subsequently I came into possession of an herbal remedy book from 1860, The People's Physician, given to me by another elderly "herb doctor" lady.   See "Why Eat Onions".   The claims for various parts of common plants are astounding, and somewhat akin to shooting ducks in the dark.  But back then, something was better than nothing, and some of these remedies often did have pain-relieving, illness-shortening or even lifesaving results.  

For hundreds of centuries, until almost half-way through this one, there was only the vaguest idea of the causes of illness, wellness and treatment of disease.  By observation, many plants gained a reputation for curing this or that.  Unfortunately, since most illnesses get better by themselves, or if the person is convinced they are being cured (the placebo effect), many such "remedies" were assigned totally unwarranted benefits.  Some even caused long-tem damage to the body that wasn't discovered until recent years (sounds like some of the pharmaceutical releases lately, doesn't it?).

There's now renewed interest in herbal remedies and alternative medicine.  Unfortunately, there's not pots of money to be made like there is by the pharmaceutical industry.  Therefore research has lagged.  But that situation is improving. 

Many people have the mistaken belief that if it's "natural" it's better for you.  Sometimes so.  Lots of times not.  (Germs are "natural", for an example!)    My grandaughter Jackie would tell me at this point "You're lecturing again, Granny!".  So I am.   But it's important to understand that herbs, like most manufactured medications, can be a two-edged sword.   They can have excellent benefits in some cases, moderate in others, placebo effects (make you feel better without any actual direct physical benefits, not always a bad thing) or have bad or dangerous effects.  Remember the ephedra scandal where many people are suspected to have suffered strokes or heart damage?  This herbal remedy is still distributed, with warnings, since the same ingredient is allowed in over-the-counter remedies.   

Here's some guidelines:

• Don't rely on information from the company selling the herbal tea or remedy.  They may or may not be reliable.  Since they want to sell the product, claims may be exaggerated or even in some cases fraudulent.
  
  
• Many, many herbal teas and herbal remedies do not have the active ingredient they are touting, or the listed amount of it, or may have something else altogether that may or may not be effective.  The FDA guidelines on this are still lacking.    Most major brands are pretty careful about this.  Consumer reporting in the media often offers guidelines.  Be VERY WARY of remedies offered on TV Shopping Infomercials and wonderful ads in newspapers, magazines and mailed advertisements.   Most of what they claim is totally untrue. 
  
  
• Some herbal teas and remedies may interfere with other medications you are taking, or with physical conditions you suffer from, or cause complications with surgical procedures you have to undergo.  
  
  
• With very few exceptions:    Do not give herbal remedies or teas to children without medical advice.  Do not take them when pregnant or nursing a baby.   Be extra careful giving them to the elderly.

If you decide to take an herbal remedy or use an herbal tea, do your research first.   Find out what its possible benefits and drawbacks are.  DO NOT take unknown teas from other than major brand names unless you've seen independent research as to its purity and potency.   Possible sources of information:

• On Health/Web MD:  Alternative Practices     You can use their search feature for individual herbal or dietary remedies or teas.
  
  
• Dr. Koop:  An Herb By Any Other Name   Search for individual items.
  
  
• Dr. Weil:  Looking for Reliable Herbal Info?   Use search for specific data.
  
  
• Prevention:   Search for the item for which you want more information.
  
  
• National Institute of Health:   Herbal Medicine
  
  
• Herb Research Foundation:   a nonprofit research and education organization
  dedicated to improving world health through the informed use of herbs. 
  

Hello,
Last night I made a chicken soup with fully cooked cut up chicken breasts and canned broth bringing to a full boil and simmering for two hours. By mistake I left it out over night, can I use this to finish my soup safely? I plan to bring back to boil and simmer with sautéed vegetables.
Thank you.

Sorry, Mike.  Absolutely not!!!!!  Chicken broth is one of the best mediums for growing dangerous bacteria. You would be courting disaster. Don't do it, it's not worth  it. 

I can sympathize.  My son just moved back across the continent to Tucson, Arizona.  The last three days, while we were packing, I fixed bunches of his favorite food, including what he says is the best soup he's ever eaten, Italian Wedding Soup, made with chicken broth and meatballs.  After a delicious one-dish dinner, served with crusty Cuban bread, we went back to packing, each of us thinking another had put the food away.  Four hours later, we found the soup still out.  What a disappointment!   Mark and I were very tempted, but we didn't; and the dogs got a great treat!   

Always play it safe.  You can become very, very ill from eating food that has had time to incubate germs.  Food poisoning is no treat and can even be life-threatening for some people.

Bess:   Thank you, we did not use it. The soup was remade and all were happy.

You can make a safe eggnog using a pasteurized egg substitute in cartons (such as Egg Beaters brand). The pasteurization process kills germs, such as the Salmonella bacteria.  As a registered dietitian, I am also concerned with food safety.  I enjoy your newsletter and the healthy recipes.

Accidentally some oranges got left in our car over night - the temperature dropped to 5 degrees above zero.  Although the oranges feel and look fine I was not sure if they are safe. Can you help me?  Thank You.

In Florida during the rare freezes where crystals actually form in the fruit, they pick them and juice them within 24 hours or a little more, and then concentrate the juice. Cut one open, and if it smells fresh, juice them immediately. Keep the juice very cold until you drink it up, within 2 days I'd say, at a guess, if the fruit actually froze. 

During power outages or in cases like yours, veggies and fruits can be processed and/or blanched and frozen, or refrozen if they still are cold enough to have a little bit of crystals.  The longer they are thawed before re-freezing, the more the nutrition, flavor and texture degrades.  Then they begin to spoil, usually to ferment.  It would be rare for them to make you sick unless they taste or smell "off".

What you have to be super-careful about are meats, fish and other protein based foods, which can make you very sick if thawed and refrozen, or left out overnight or even for a few hours.  For guidelines see Shelf Life and Use Dates.

I still don't see the harmful effects of 'frankenfood'.

Actually, Emily, that's part of the problem.  We don't know.  Many of us suspect, through logic or knowledge in other fields, that some "frankenfoods" may do either immediate or long-tem damage, while others may be unbelievably helpful to the human race.  The problem is that insufficient long-term testing has been done to sort out the facts.

Some time back there was an advertisement in which a butterfly fluttering it's wings in a jungle in Brazil ultimately caused a storm in another part of the world.  While that's stretching it a little, we have to realize that we are all, in effect, one big organism or colony called earth, and what affects one part affects us all.     

We also have to accept that things change.  There's a tendency to look for immediate blame when things go wrong, like the catastrophic floods and storms in the past few years that break 50, 100 or 500 year records.  While we humans may be causing some of these changes, others are natural cycles that have occurred sporadically since long before humankind was advanced enough to cause an impact.  Those who have studied a good bit of science and history fail to become outraged.   We certainly are changing many things in our world, however. 

Consider that we are altering natural selection within the human race.  Persons with genetic defects often didn't live long enough to reproduce years ago.  Now, with miracles of science, these persons can have children and their defects can be passed on to future generations in larger quantities.  

Consider HIV or AIDS.  Probably the innocent act of some individual, on an extremely hot and sunny day in mid-Africa, picked up a virus that began to change into the tragic physical, emotional and economic loss now facing the entire world.

Consider the tiny change in a supplement, folic acid, added to bread and other grains that will virtually wipe out crippling spina bifida.

Consider Thalidomide.  This great remedy for morning sickness started an epidemic of babies born without complete arms and legs.  It was yanked off the market in horror.  Now it has once again come into use as a valuable remedy for a number of conditions, but of course not for use by women of child-bearing age.  Ditto for Accutane, the miracle acne remedy.

Consider Alzheimer's disease.  (What I am going to express on this subject is my own opinion, not necessarily a scientifically proven fact, and also involves some math.)  The average age of human beings is advancing steadily.  But the possible length of normal life is not advancing at all.  All plants and animals have a natural life span, barring disasters, that follows what is called a bell curve.  The reason the average age is increasing rapidly is because people are recovering from or avoiding those disasters that previously took so many people out at an early age, such as malnutrition, exposure, broken bones, pneumonia, appendicitis or gangrene.   So although there were many, many less older people previously, say from 60 years old on up, there were plenty around who were healthy, lucid and lucky enough to avoid having died earlier.

When I was a child, I always liked to talk with older people.  They had fascinating stories to tell about earlier times and the way people lived.  They had different outlooks and most had valuable skills they were willing to pass on to any young person willing to listen and learn.   

My father was a Baptist pastor, and one of his duties was to visit the County Home, hold services and visit with the bedridden.  Back then huge amounts of people, mostly women, ended up unable to care for themselves in elder years, with little or no income and no relatives able or willing to care for them.  Food stamps, meals on wheels, group homes, community health aides and senior centers were still in the future, Most of these people had advanced arthritis, heart problems, strokes, broken hips, blindness and other problems naturally occurring with age.  These, and the younger disabled, were all sent to a huge, often grim institution called the County Home.  Most counties in the USA had them.  I usually went with my father each month.  Our church would donate apples and oranges,  scented soaps, hand cream and talcum powder, handkerchiefs and combs, aftershave and cologne, and other small items which we were able to give to those that lacked them.  What really moved them, I believe, wasn't so much a gift but the attention and a break in the unremitting boredom of most of their lives.

In addition because of my affinity for elderly people, I often "babysat" those who were living with their families and couldn't be left alone.   Virtually none of them, many in their eighties and nineties, had any mental disabilities.  Not all were real smart, but those probably weren't that sharp when they were young, either.   

In fact, I only remember one poor woman who was really bonkers.  They had to keep her restrained in her bed in the County Home.  I was horrified and asked my father what her problem was.  He told me it was senile dementia.

When Alzheimer's started increasing, the first cases were all called senile dementia.  Eventually it was realized this was something different and the rate was increasing; it was given a name and an explanation that people were living longer so more of them were getting it.  

Hogwash!!!  This is caused by something introduced into our environment, or perhaps a virus, bacteria or prion, or a genetic  change in human beings.  Those of you over fifty:  let me ask you a  question.  Do you remember, when you were very young,  a whole lot of people over 65 years of age, otherwise healthy and physically active, with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's, that went rapidly downhill mentally?  I mention healthy people, as other physical conditions and even simple depression can affect mental function.   

Let's ask some questions:  

• Are the rates the same by age in other countries?
• Is the distribution equal in all parts of the USA?  What about Canada?  England?  Japan?  China?  Third World countries?
• Does it affect all races proportionately?   
• Does it attack all economic and social levels equally?
• Do vegetarians or vegans get it at the same rate?   
• Where's the evidence that the same horrific percentage of persons, let's say in their eighties, suffered from or died from some kind of senile dementia fifty years ago.  A hundred years?  I'll bet there's no such evidence.  

So what is causing it?  The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?  A common solvent, heavy metal or radiation?  Some addition to the food chain?  A preservative?  Hydrogenated fats?  Some antibiotic or hormone?  Who knows?  And why not?

Until science advances and/or someone comes clean about it, your only weak defense against losing it as you age is to eat a  healthy, lower-fat diet heavy on fruits and veggies, take a daily  multivitamin including C and B¹², an aspirin and extra Vitamin E, exercise, keep learning,  wear your seatbelt (head injuries increase your chance of developing the disease), exercise, keep learning new things, and hope for the more research and a future cure.

As my granddaughter Jackie is prone to tell me, "Granny, you're going on and on again!"  Well, there's a reason.   

To answer Emily's comment,  three things are needed in regards to Frankenfoods:

• More research on their effect in the diet,
  
  
• Far more caution in permitting introduction of genetically  altered crops that can crossbreed easily and those altered to resist disease and insect damage, which by extrapolation may well have a bad effect on humans as well in some cases, and certainly on the environment in general,  

• Labeling of all foods containing genetically altered ingredients, and especially those in which, let's say for example, a peanut gene is inserted into something else and those allergic to peanuts may wish to avoid altogether- just in case!   This way consumers have a choice.

So that's what I consider "harmful" about these foods.  There's a whole lot that probably isn't harmful and is undoubtedly helpful and even lifesaving.  But we need to proceed with a lot more caution than is currently being exercised.   Unexpected and/or disastrous results can occur from the simplest actions, as outlined above, and this change certainly is extremely complicated-- not simple!  To quote from the Hill Street Blues, "Be careful out there!"

Related articles at All About Altered Foods and Genetic Engineering

Can I eat cooked chicken that has been accidentally left out over night?

Leigh left no return email address, so I cannot answer her.  Soon she will have either thrown it out or found out the hard way that it's a very bad idea to eat any kind of meat left out like that.  

If you write something that needs an immediate answer, PLEASE include your email address.

ChefAl of Great World Chefs writes:   I am forwarding this to the best expert on the web for this type of question, The Sneaky Kitchen.  I am sure she can provide that proper answer, and where to look for more info!  

Lori writes to ChefAl:   Hello,  I don't know if you saw Dateline last night (May 21), the whole hour was on grocery stores changing the "sell by" dates on meat, poultry and fish.  They had some of the meat tested for bacteria, the results were astounding, I believe a piece of beef was found to have 19x the "normal" amount of pathogens and a piece of fish was found to have 230,000,000 pathogens (yes, 
230 million!).   The microbiologist said there was absolutely no way to cook off all the bacteria and still eat the fish.  Which for most people poses no problem, but for the immuno-suppressed or children it could be major problems. 

My question is this: I usually rinse meat, fish and poultry before cooking, mostly to rinse off any bone fragments, but does that remove any of the bacteria?  Or does anyone know where I might find this info? Thank you for your time!  Lori 

I wish I'd seen that Dateline.  I would have found it of great interest. 

I recently read an article that stated unequivocally that washing meat had no benefit.  I didn't publish a link to the article mainly because I don't think that's entirely true, only partially so.

First, one cannot eat meat nowadays without eating contaminants and bacteria.  Animals are kept in crowded conditions in order to reduce the cost, and fed inappropriate foods, then given antibiotics and growth stimulants to reduce loss and maximize weight.  This means the germs they carry are hardier, more difficult to cure if a human gets them.

You may have heard about pigs being such a useful animal because you can use everything except the oink.  Well, that's the case with most animals now.  Chickens are often fed treated cattle manure.  Cattle until recently were fed dried, ground byproducts from other cattle, the reason for the spread of mad cow disease.  Nothing goes to waste, but is used, often inappropriately, somewhere.

Inspection of slaughtering plants is spotty, and the processing that tries to salvage every microgram of usable material as quickly as possible from a carcass also can contaminate it with intestinal bacteria and prions.  The feds have just passed some further laws to test for e-coli and salmonella, but the standards are less than the government and citizen watch-groups wanted although more than the meat industry desired.

As to seafood, inadequately treated sewage and industrial waste are contaminating our waterways and oceans to the point that most seafood contain toxics to some extent, or are dying off entirely due to pollution and/or over-fishing.

Mass-production is another inescapable problem.  One piece of germ-laden meat in a bin with other pieces, or a bad egg broken into a container with others ready to cook, can contaminate the whole bunch, as has happened at some fast-food places in recent years.

I don't think there is any way that grocery stores can be entirely prevented from changing dates on perishables.  It's not unheard of for stores to install color-enhancing lights in their meat counters, adding dyes and preservatives, etc.   If you feel a store has done so, on perhaps a couple of occasions, I'd find another store. 

Washing:  we had a friend that went to work for us on property renovation for almost a decade and shortly ended up doing most of the cooking.  He was from the outback of a poor, third-world country where refrigeration was less common, although his family was one of the more advantaged in the small town he came from.  He scrubbed the meat, fish and poultry with lemon juice and warm water.  My husband referred to him as "the raccoon" when he saw him scrubbing meat.  On occasion our friend would call and ask me to purchase something and put it on to simmer and tenderize.  "And wash it!"   Sometimes I was in a hurry or forgot, and put it to cook without washing.  He always knew!   Super-sensitive taste buds!   

It stands to reason.  We cannot remove all the germs in a piece of meat because it gets into the crevices and then inside the meat itself, especially poultry and fish.  As germs start to grow on the outside,  washing, especially with lemon or lime juice, does get rid of a lot of them, with their toxins and bad flavors.  If just cannot remove them all.  Soaking meat or poultry in icy water with added Kosher salt does somewhat the same.    

If we use animal products, we are putting ourselves at risk (although the same can be said about fruits and veggies - life is a risk!).  There are things we can do to minimize the risks, personally and globally:

• Look carefully at the meats you buy.  They should be uniform in color, not dark, gray or green around the edges.  Take a package out from under the light in the meat counter and look at it in the regular store light.
• If your meat department smells stale or like disinfectant, you might think about buying elsewhere.
• Fresh whole fish should have glossy clear eyes, close, tight scales, and no fishy smell.  Frozen fish should show no signs of refreezing.  Cold water fish such as mackerel and salmon frequently have less toxins and are better for you.  
• Poultry should smell fresh when you open the package.  
• Put the meat in the passenger compartment and go directly home, or better yet, keep a small insulated cooler in the trunk; put it in the back seat and stuff meats, fish and other perishables into it (raw animal products on the bottom, please!).
• If you get "off" quality from a store once or twice, consider changing meat markets.
• Don't refreeze meats, poultry or fish.  Thaw in the refrigerator, not on the counter.  Keep your fridge at 40 degrees and use thawed or fresh meat within 24 hours.
• Don't buy "hamburger".  First, there's no telling what's in it.  A few years back in Miami, hamburger was analyzed from various stores, including kosher ones, and found traces of chicken, pork, ham, even goat or lamb, high germ counts and in most cases a truly unacceptable amount of  fat, ground gristle and connective tissue.  A lot of stores apparently had a bin where they threw anything left over after packaging, including blood, and at day's end added some more beef and ground it up for the next day's hamburger (sometimes without washing the grinder first).  Second, whatever germs were on the surface are distributed throughout and more blood is released (a great medium for pathogens which multiply like mad).  Pick your lean meat and have it ground on the spot, and hope they cleaned the grinder recently (not a sure thing!).   I buy from a medium-size Hispanic market; they are always scrubbing the grinder, slicer and meat saw, and the whole meat section smells perfectly clean.  A neighboring store has an "off" or rancid smell that gets stronger the closer you get to the meat department, and I would NEVER buy there, nor at another that has a disinfectant odor. 
• Try to avoid pre-sliced meats like ham, especially if you have small children or immune-suppressed people in your home.  Buy whole and have it cut.  Then package separately and freeze as soon as you get home.  Cook sausage and hot dogs thoroughly.  Avoid packaged lunch meats that are at or past the sell date, or have excess fluid or a bulging package.  Use promptly (or better yet, not at all or rarely).  "Dry" ones like hard salami, chorizo, etc. are safer than, for instance, baloney, a doubtful choice anyway.
• Marinate and add seasonings whenever appropriate.  This further reduces germ growth and kills some of those present.  Don't baste with marinade unless you bring it to a boil first to kill germs.
• One of your best lines of defense is kitchen cleanliness.  Store meat in the fridge where juices cannot contaminate other surfaces.  Never use knives, cutting boards or utensils used fro meat or egg preparation for anything else without scrubbing in very hot water or running through a dishwasher.  Personally, I have 3 chef's knives, 2 boning knives, 4 cutting boards, 2 whisks, etc. etc., and I look on them as a sanitation tools, not wretched excess.  Wash hands often and don't touch anything in the kitchen including the faucet handle after touching raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs until you scrub up.  Think nearly "operating room" clean and you'll avoid a lot of "stomach flu".
• Cook ALL meats to the required temperature to destroy all germs.  Be aware, however, that this will not remove traces of antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, toxins produced by germs as they grow, disinfectants or other chemicals used in processing, storing or packaging for sale, etc.
• Read safety recalls, such as SafetyAlerts, on a daily basis, or subscribe to their newsletter, especially if you cook for children or the immune-suppressed. 
• Support by letters and votes all measures to further protect our food supply, including being willing to pay for those measures (nothing's free).   Be aware that many in power have their own interests at heart or are clueless (See statement Al Gore reputedly made).  Also be aware that fixing things will raise the cost of food, and that one reason for industry practices is not just greed but the realities of the market, driven in part of the overpopulation of the world (we're eating ourselves out of house and home [Mother Earth] in other words). 

Have I painted a bleak picture?  Afraid so.  But that's the reality of our marketplace.  It's no worse overall than it was fifty, a hundred or three hundred years ago, just different.  For one thing, most people that survived childhood some years back became immune to most of these germs.  Now that is impossible, as the use of antibiotics and anti-bacterials causes the  pathogens to mutate to forms to which we have no immunity.  This is one reason that prophylactic use of antibiotics in food animals to promote growth and prevent spread of infections must be stopped, and better solutions found.

What's the final answer?  Eat a lot less meat.   Eat lots more beans, whole grains, veggies (especially bright colored ones) and fruits.  Eat eggs, which contain Omega 3, (if your cholesterol level is ok) but cook them well or buy pasteurized ones.  You can even buy eggs from chickens fed special diets to increase the good fat and decrease the cholesterol, if you can afford them.  Eat more fish, but be careful of the source (ChefAl can tell us more about fish selection.  Please?  I'll publish it below.)  This kind of diet is better for your body, and the antioxidants in many of these foods may help you deal better with toxins from the environment and your food supply.

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