Food Safety Experts Avoid These 4 Foods At The Grocery Store

Food inspectors see a lot of gnarly food.

Also referred to as food safety managers and food science technicians, these professionals are tasked with enforcing the Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines across companies to ensure that all matters related to food meet important standards — not just how the fare is made, but also how it’s sourced, packaged, stored, dealt with over time and distributed all over the country. These folks makes it easy for us to buy groceries without having to worry too much about what’s safe.

When you hear about salmonella and E. coli breakouts, for example, it’s because a food safety inspector was able to recognize and isolate the issue, a job that requires different levels of training depending on where in the United States you’re looking to practice.

So if there’s a food at the supermarket that you should avoid, a food safety inspector is the first person you should ask. We reached out and asked them what, exactly, they won’t shop for when they’re at the grocery store.

Unpasteurized (Raw) Milk

Also known as raw milk, unpasteurized milk is milk that has not gone through a heating process as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that kills pathogens, extends shelf life and makes the drink safer for consumption.

As a result, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , raw milk may boast harmful germs like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, brucella and more.

Interestingly enough, the sale of raw milk is actually illegal in some states. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund offers a pretty nifty state-by-state breakdown . In Alabama and Colorado, for example, the ban on raw milk extends to retail store sales, off-farm sales and on-farm ones. On the other hand, in