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Whatever tools I handled (including knives and the cutting board) get rinsed with a sanitizing solution composed of 1½ teaspoons Clorox bleach per pint of water. Campylobacter jujuni, an especially nasty germ, differs from salmonella, which requires a large colony to make you sick, because C. jujuni can do it with just a handful of organisms. The American Red Cross recommends ¼ cup of chlorine bleach per 1 gallon of water. Clorox, a sodium hypochlorite bleach (which breaks down into little more than salt water once it’s done its killing/cleaning), breaks down the proteins in cell walls, rendering bacteria and the like good and dead. When I’m done in the kitchen, I spritz all the surfaces (and the clean cutting board) lightly with the same solution and leave it to dry (See notes on Cutting Boards).

Bad Bugs

There are zillions of different microorganisms in, on, and around food, but the ones that can render ill those who consume them are in a club all their own. They are the pathogens and they come in five basic flavors: bacteria, viruses, parasites, molds, and yeasts. The last two actually play a crucial role in much food and beverage production, but they can also spoil food (though they rarely make us sick). Viruses can make you very sick indeed, but since they can only survive in living tissue, they only rear their ugly little heads in shellfish.42 Parasites such as Trichinella spiralis in pork used to be a problem but have been all but eradicated in swine populations through proper feed management. Bacteria are by far the most troublesome and include the big three: Salmonella, E. coli, and Clostridium botulinum, the instigator of botulism. The first two set up shop in our digestive tracts and wreak havoc. The third is itself actually harmless, but its waste is a potent toxin that loves to attack respiratory systems.43

Although individual needs differ, most microorganisms require:

• Water

• Food

• A pH between 4.6 and 7

• Temperature between 40° and 140° F (known hereafter as “the Zone”)

• Air (though some, like botulinum, do not)

The water content of any food is referred to as its “water activity.” Most—but not all—bacteria, molds, yeasts, and the like require a relatively damp environment, which is why meats and fresh vegetables spoil quickly, while dry goods don’t.

Food for microorganisms can be anything from nearly pure sugar (as in the case of mold on jam) or protein (meat). In any case, the food has to be dissolved in water in order for bacteria to digest it; cured hams can hang around a smokehouse for a couple of years without rotting.44

PH refers to the acidity of a given substance. The scale goes from 0 to 14, with 1 being eat-your-face-off acidic (remember the acid scene in The Fly?) and 14 being eat-your-face-off alkaline (remember the lye scene in Fight Club?). Limes rate a 2, baking soda rates an 8.1, and distilled water is dead neutral at 7. Almost all foods are slightly acidic, which is just what bacteria like. But they don’t like an environment under a pH of 4.6, which is why raw fish prepared ceviche-style will keep a heck of a lot longer than raw fish that’s, well, raw. Which is not to say that you’d want to leave ceviche hanging around that long (see Acid).

THE ZONE

The temperature range from 40° to 140° F is referred to as the Danger Zone because most bacteria multiply readily within this window. And that’s not good, because the more of these little bugs there are, the more likely you are to get sick—and of course the quicker the food’s going to spoil. You might argue that the bacteria that accumulate in a piece of raw chicken left on a counter for 5 hours may indeed be killed by proper cooking, but why run the risk? Also, that piece of chicken will leave a lot of bacteria on everything it touches, thus increasing the chance for cross contamination. Outside the Zone, bacteria advancement slows radically, or even stops altogether (although some bacteria can remain active well below