a variety of food recalls have made
headlines within the past few months
just last week Whole Foods says it's
recalling its baby spinach sold in
Florida stores and of course romaine
lettuce was a big one in November it's
hard to keep up with not to mention the
ground turkey recall in December so it's
important everyone's aware of what's
safe to eat especially pregnant women
yeah and joining us now is dr. Ann Marie
Jones from women's care Florida thank
you so much for joining us thank you for
having me so what is it about just
keeping up with all these recalls
because when you're pregnant you're
looking at everything you're you're
putting into your body I mean how can
just keep track of all this so I find
that the easiest way to actually keep up
with the recalls is to look at the
websites from the FDA and also the
Center for Disease Control they actually
have the most updated information for
those recalls but the key thing is just
everyday preparation of our foods it's
actually very simple you want to wash
your hands you want to wash the surfaces
that you're using you don't want to
cross contaminate meats with vegetables
and fruit that's very important the
other thing is that when you are washing
your fruits and vegetables you actually
need to rinse them for 30 seconds most
people don't know that they just throw
it under the right sauce it and then you
know serve it to everybody but that's
really important and then the other
thing is with pregnant patients
especially to stay away from foods that
have a lot of nooks and crannies so like
sprouts and those types of things
because it's very hard to actually rinse
those very well and so women and
families will get ill because of the
bacteria that is trapped in those little
nooks and crannies so if somebody's
immune system is low as in pregnancy
which most women are very alert and
aware of food when they're pregnant but
even somebody who is immune compromised
because of maybe cancer or just has an
autoimmune disease they need to be very
careful so you need to cook your food
thoroughly a thermometer is very
helpful so that that way you'll cook the
food to the degree that you need
unfortunately I got sick with my last
pregnancy and it was where you know I
just couldn't nothing settled on my
stomach and so what happens when the
worst case scenario happens and you get
sick during a pregnancy and it may be
foodborne or you don't know but you know
you feel like you're you're sick so
definitely the symptoms that women will
have when they get sick are maybe fever
and nausea vomiting body aches you need
to call your physician you need to you
know make sure that you're well hydrated
drink lots of fluids if you're not able
to do that then you're going to possibly
need some IV fluids or possibly
antibiotics and you mentioned washing
everything what about when you buy the
salad and the vegetables that says pre
wash three times is that that does seem
to be safe but I mean it's always smart
to rinse it again you know just to be
sure if you're not comfortable with it
or if it's a brand that you're not used
to that you haven't been eating in the
past so I think that that's always a
good idea and kind of recapping it what
is actually a foodborne illness I mean
is it from the the fertilizers is it
from you know what is it well actually
it can be from chemicals it can be from
bacteria it can be from a virus so
actually it could be from any of those
things and it's just something that has
gotten into your system that now has
made you sick most of the ones that we
hear the recalls those are bacterial
salmonella listeria those are the things
that we usually worry about so is it the
same as when you hear the term food
poisoning or is food poisoning just kind
of a layman's term food poisoning is the
elements okay yes
and what should we say to those who may
be you know you're scared you're worried
about the baby things like that to just
you know calm those fears because it can
be serious but
after a certain amount of time you
really need to get to the doctor or get
to the hospital or just go ahead and go
right correct correct the safest thing
is always to call your physician and ask
them questions go in and get checked I
always tell my patients I'd rather see
you a hundred times well you're pregnant
I want to make sure that you and your
baby are safe alright great advice thank
you so much for joining us this morning
thank you thanks