Kids' Health Blog

This is a post by Dr. Gigi Chawla, a pediatrician/hospitalist and the director of Medical and Surgical Services at our hospital in St. Paul. Dr. Chawla specializes in treating children with special needs.

Picnics, celebrations and holiday potlucks are some of the joys of summer – and, unfortunately, the source of infectious woes.

Consider your summer gatherings where food is a central component in a similar context to eating in a third-world country. Though the tastes may be spectacular, the hygiene issues around preparation may lack. This can lead to serious exposures and illnesses including E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, Hepatitis A, Norwalk virus, and a variety of viruses which may produce an upper respiratory tract illness or “cold.” That’s a mouthful!

The standard practices when traveling to a third-world country include using good hand hygiene and selecting foods that come whole, that can be peeled, and that are cooked or boiled before eaten.

The same practices apply to your summer gathering. They’re simple to follow but can be easily forgotten. Here are some reminders:

1. Wash your hands: Keep your hands clean with soap and water or hand sanitizer while serving yourself at a picnic or eating food with your hands.
2. Pick smart foods: Select foods that come whole and wash them well, foods that can be peeled, and foods that are cooked or boiled before eating. Well-cooked foods pose a lower risk than uncooked or undercooked foods. Although a pasta or garden salad may look appealing, thoroughly cooked lasagna may be the safer option.
3. Keep food at a constant cold temperature: The temperature of foods that are placed on ice or in cool water to stay chilled, such as pasta or potato salads, can fluctuate. Ice melts. Cool water becomes tepid. This can lead to bacteria overgrowth.
4. Bring multiple utensils: Avoid using the same utensil for handling raw meats, opening packages and cutting up fruit.

Have fun at your summertime food gatherings! Just think twice about the foods you place on your paper plate.

You can now listen to Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota staff share their expertise and advice with families on the Good Enough Moms™ podcast. Through a new supporting partnership with Good Enough Moms, each month thought leaders from Children’s will join hosts Dr. Marti Erickson and her daughter, maternal-child health specialist Erin Erickson, to give their perspective on specific behavioral health, mental health, and general health topics important to parents.

Nancy Entgelmeier, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Children’s, offers her expert advice today on the Good Enough Moms podcast. Nancy shares her words of wisdom and tips for successful breastfeeding, new foods, allergy risks and more.

Listen to the podcast.

Recently, I watched someone eating a bagel with cream cheese drop that bagel, pick it up, brush it off, and start eating it again because it met the criteria of the less-than-5-seconds rule. In clinic that same day, I had a family who used nearly a full container of a hand sanitizer during our visit, and their hands were cracked and irritated from constant alcohol-product exposure.

Shouldn’t there be some middle ground? Abandon anything that drops to the ground. It can’t be worth eating. Don’t use your hand sanitizer constantly, not on open skin, and soap and water still works also. How do you practice moderation to stay healthy?

Gigi Chawla, MD, is the Chief of Staff at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Read more about her here.