Summertime And You’re Feeling Queasy

That’s OK — it just means more sushi and egg salad for the rest of us:

With the summer heat upon us, health experts warn that the popular “pay-by-the-pound” salad bars found in delis citywide are prime breeding grounds for bacteria and other pathogens.

“Hot foods should be kept hot and cold foods should be kept cold. What is happening — for example, in a salad bar if food is not kept properly — could be contamination from an overgrowth of bacteria,” said Dr. Joseph Rahimian, attending physician at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Department of Infectious Diseases.

Health Department regulations mandate all cold foods, such as egg salad, be kept below 40 degrees.

That can be especially tough during the dog days of summer when daily temperatures soar.

“When a heat wave comes, like this week, my compressor works double,” said James Lee, executive chef at the Variety Café on West 48th Street.

“It usually turns on every half-hour, but when the temperature hits 90 degrees like this week, it turns on every 15 minutes. The energy bill goes up 25 percent during a heat wave to keep everything cool.”

. . .

According to Rahimian, bacteria can start growing within two hours for food not kept properly chilled — especially at large salad bars.

“I tend not to eat shellfish or sushi from these kinds of environments,” he said. “Cottage cheese and dairy products can go bad very easily in the summer months if it’s not the right temperature.”

Unpeeled fruits, which may not have been properly washed, are another risk, he added.

Very quickly, nasty food-borne pathogens such as bacillus cereus, campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and streptococcus can form.

Food poisoning, accompanied by bouts of diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, can strike immediately after contaminated food is ingested, but it can sometimes take longer. For instance, it can take anywhere from two to five days for symptoms of campylobacter infection, one of the most common causes of gastroenteritis, to strike.

Nationwide, there are about 76 million cases of food poisoning a year resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

“Have your own personal set of rules,” advises Dr. Patricia Raymond, a gastroenterologist and founder of yourhealthchoice.net. “I would avoid all mayonnaise-based salads. I would completely avoid sushi.”