Deli meat, cucumbers top list of ‘really risky foods’ you might have in the fridge
Cucumbers, deli meat and eggs are just a few of the everyday grocery items that made a list from Consumer Reports of “10 Really Risky Foods Right Now.”
It’s based on the number of illnesses and deaths in 2024, how widespread the outbreaks were, the number of recalls and the amount of food recalled.
There was a 41% jump in food recalls due to possible contamination with salmonella, E. coli and listeria in 2024 compared with the year before, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.
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Each year, Consumer Reports ranks the 10 foods linked to the largest U.S. recalls and most serious illness outbreaks caused by bacterial contamination.
The company uses data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Max Teplitski, chief science officer for the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA), told Fox News Digital the conversation about outbreaks is complicated.
Every year, new technology improves the ability to detect outbreaks and therefore issue recalls that reach the public, he said.
“Now that we have molecular tools, we can connect two seemingly different cases,” Teplitski said. “And once you have two cases, you have an outbreak.”
That doesn’t make one food on the list riskier going forward, he said. Consumer Reports measures what has happened in a particular year.
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“The way these data and studies are generated is looking at the retroactive or prospective data analysis,” he said.
Below are the 10 risky foods on the list.
A case of listeria in liverwurst at a Boar’s Head plant contributed to the biggest outbreak of foodborne illness last year, causing the company to recall 7 million pounds of deli meats.
Due to the handling of sliced meats at the processor and then the deli counter, there is a greater risk of bacterial infection. Deli meat is one of the items the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) monitors to protect consumers.
Certain people should be especially careful when it comes to eating cold cuts, according to Beverly Lopez, food safety specialist for the FSIS.
“The group at greater risk for foodborne illness, particularly deli meats, includes infants, young children, pregnant women and their unborn babies, older adults and people with weakened immune systems,” she told Fox News Digital. “These groups are more susceptible to severe illness or complications.”
Both whole and sliced cucumbers sold in grocery stores were involved in outbreaks in 2024.
But Teplitski said he doesn’t think it’s anything specific to cucumbers.
Like other produce, cucumbers are grown in open fields and therefore subject to pathogens that are present in soil, he said.
He recommends that shoppers avoid any produce that looks damaged or bruised, as they could more easily be infected if the skin is broken.
Thoroughly washing all produce is an important way people can protect themselves, he added.
Pasteurization kills bacteria and viruses in dairy products by heating them to 161 degrees Farenheit.
But raw milk and cheese, often consumed for the health benefits of being “unprocessed,” can be left vulnerable to salmonella and E. coli.
That’s what happened in two separate outbreaks at raw farms last year.
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Even though the FDA requires raw dairy products to be aged for 60 days to kill bacteria, there’s still a chance someone could get sick consuming them.
Soft cheese, which includes Brie, is a perfect breeding ground for listeria because of its high water content and low acidity, according to the CDC.
Rio Lopéz Foods battled a years-long outbreak with its cotija and queso fresco cheese that affected 11 states, FOX Business previously reported.
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Hard cheese like cheddar and Parmesan are safer options.
Salmonella wreaked havoc in 12 states during an outbreak at Milo’s Poultry Farms last year, while Handsome Brooks Farms eggs, sold at Costco, were recalled with no illnesses reported.
Salmonella can be present inside the egg and on the shell, according to FoodSafety.gov — so don’t use eggs with broken shells and be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw eggs.
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Cook eggs until they are firm, not runny, to kill any bacteria that may be present.
Some people who ate McDonald’s Quarter Pounders, with their signature raw slivered onions, became sick due to an E. coli outbreak last year.
(The FDA investigated whether Taylor Farms, which supplied the onions to McDonald’s in the areas where the E. coli outbreak occurred, was the source of the contamination. McDonald’s removed beef and onions from its supply chain after the CDC informed them of the outbreak, and Taylor Farms issued a recall of yellow onions in Oct. 2024, FOX Business reported last year. Beef was ruled out as the source.)
Again, produce items are subject to contamination through soil and water.
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In addition to careful washing, Teplitski recommends keeping produce separate, starting at the grocery store, to prevent cross contamination from one item to another.
Fresh spinach and a romaine-iceberg lettuce mix caused two E. coli outbreaks after they were shipped to restaurants and schools last year, according to Consumer Reports.
Some types of fruits and vegetables are consumed more than others in a typical diet, Teplitski said, such as cucumbers, onions and leafy greens.
Teplitski said it’s “just a numbers game sometimes.”
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“Some vegetables and fruits are consumed much more rarely, so they’re less likely to appear on those tables,” he said.
“But if we look at the totality of the millions of pounds of cucumbers and leafy greens and onions that are consumed daily by Americans, the risk of illness is trending close to zero.”
Organically grown produce is not immune to bacteria from the soil and water.
Bagged carrots – a household staple for many – from Grimmway Farms were the subject of a recall last November.
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Washing and peeling raw vegetables can reduce the potential for bacteria on the surface, but cooking is a safer bet.
This savory herb, packaged by Infinite Herbs, was contaminated with salmonella and sickened people in 14 states.
Teplitski said the produce industry has invested nearly $50 million into understanding the causes of outbreaks, how human pathogens persist in the environment and how wild and domestic animals can contribute to negative food safety outcomes.
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“What I can say is that today, the fresh produce is the safest it’s ever been in human history,” he said. “We continue to learn and invest in the tools to make food safer from the field all the way to the plate.”
Though cooking is a way to reduce the presence of viruses and bacteria, cooked items that are handled and processed can pick up pathogens.
“Perishable food such as meat, poultry and egg products must be handled safely from purchase through consumption to prevent foodborne illness,” Lopez said.
Two leading causes of foodborne illness are eating raw or undercooked foods — and allowing food to remain at an unsafe temperature too long, Lopez said.
“For example, leaving cooked foods out to cool after cooking or leaving perishable foods out of the refrigerator for more than two hours,” she said.
“Everyone should be mindful of safe food handling.”
