The United States Dept of Agriculture offers the following message to persons in cancer treatment regarding eating from a holiday buffet and the potential risk of foodborne illnesses.
A holiday buffet can be a great way to celebrate on New Year’s, but these kinds of food service, where foods are left out for long periods of time, can be a health hazard especially for those in treatment for cancer.
The immune system in a person in treatment or living with cancer does not work as fast to clear infection and other foreign agents from the body. This delay in the body’s natural response to foreign invasion increases the risk for infection from foodborne illnesses.
If you are in treatment, or recently finished treatment, avoid the following buffet offerings:
- Hot dogs, luncheon, and deli meats unless they are reheated until steaming hot.
- Refrigerated pate’, meat spreads from a meat counter, smoked seafood, and raw or undercooked seafood.
- Raw (unpasteurized) milk and foods that contain unpasteurized milk.
- Salads made in the store such as ham salad, chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad, or seafood salad.
- Soft cheeses such as Feta, queso blanco, queso fresco, Brie, Camembert cheeses, blue-veined cheeses, and Panela unless it is labeled as made with pasteurized milk.
- Soft-boiled or “over-easy” eggs, as the yolks are not fully cooked.