The 6 Foods You Should Never Eat From a Buffet, According to a Food Safety Expert
Key Takeaways
Keep an eye on food temperatures—hot foods should be steaming, and cold foods should feel chilled.
Avoid foods that look old, are improperly replenished, or don’t have serving utensils to reduce your risk.
Skip undercooked meats, mayo-based salads, and allergen-prone dishes to stay safe at your next buffet.
There’s something so alluring about an all-you-can-eat buffet. Some restaurants, like Golden Corral, built their whole business around the buffet, while cruise ships and Las Vegas elevated the concept to new outlandish heights. With a wide variety of options ready to go, you don’t have to make any real decisions. Gather whatever looks good to you on a plate and taste the rainbow. There’s no judgment in the buffet line!
The only worry when it comes to buffets is the risk of foodborne illness. Cruise ship outbreaks tend to get all of the press, but the risk is real no matter if the buffet is on water or land. We talked to an expert to understand how to mitigate that risk when dining at a buffet and what to look for to reduce your chances of exposure.
The Top Foods To Avoid at a Buffet
Don Schaffner is a professor and the chair of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University. He hosts two food safety podcasts: Risky Or Not? and Food Safety Talk, and he was kind enough to walk us through the ins and outs of safely eating at a buffet. He hit on two main issues: temperature and replenishment.
Hot Foods That Aren’t Hot Enough
“When I think about food safety at a buffet, I’m not really thinking about specific foods; I’m really thinking about time and temperature,” says Schaffner. “If I’m eating hot foods at a buffet, I want to be sure that the foods are steaming hot.” This is because prepared food has a danger zone. This is a range of temperatures (40 to 140 degrees F, according to the CDC) in which bacteria are more likely to grow and spread. This means that hot food should be kept at more than 140°F to mitigate risk. At this temperature, the food will look and feel hot rather than lukewarm or room temperature. Avoid hot food that isn’t hot.
Cold Foods That Aren’t Cold Enough
The same rule (but inverted) goes for cold food—you still want to avoid the danger zone. “If I’m eating cold foods, I want to be sure that they really do feel cold,” says Schaffner. This includes cold salads, fruit, fresh vegetables, desserts, and liquids like milk and juice. In addition to food being served hot or cold enough, it should be refreshed every hour or two to improve food safety conditions, says Schaffner. If any food does not look fresh, consider skipping it.
In addition, notice how the employees are replenishing the buffet. “The right thing to do is to remove the old food, place the fresh food in the buffet, and then place the old food on top so it gets used first. The wrong way to do it is simply to dump the fresh food on top of the old food,” says Schaffner. This can cause the temperature to rise or fall too quickly and compromise the quality.
Undercooked Eggs or Meat
According to the CDC, undercooked eggs and meat are at higher risk of transmitting foodborne illnesses. This is why neither is recommended for pregnant women or individuals with weakened immune systems. Because of this risk, coupled with the inherent risk of leaving food out for extended periods of time, we don’t recommend reaching for rare meat or drippy eggs at your next buffet. This also includes anything that might contain raw eggs, like Hollandaise sauce or Caesar dressing.
Mayo-Based Salads
Speaking of eggs, mayo contains raw or undercooked eggs. If the mayo-based salad is kept at 40 degrees F or below and fully replaced after one to two hours, then the risk should be low. If that’s not the case, then it’s best to skip the potato salad during your next buffet round.
Foods Nearby Allergens
If you or a loved one has food allergies, then a buffet can be risky business. “If you have serious allergies, you may just simply want to skip any restaurant or buffet that contains things that you’re allergic to,” says Schaffner. This is for practical reasons—if you have a peanut allergy and a dish with peanuts sits in front of or next to a dish you’d like to try, there’s a good chance someone reached across and dropped peanut debris in other dishes, including yours. Steer clear of any dishes placed near foods that contain something you’re allergic to, or (even better) avoid that buffet altogether.
Foods Without Serving Utensils
Sometimes the dessert section offers a myriad of tempting options, but they don’t all have tongs or other serving utensils. Or perhaps you witness a kid’s little hands grabbing at a cupcake when the adults aren’t looking. To help avoid foodborne illness, stay away from any dishes that don’t offer serving utensils or dishes where customers don’t seem to be using the utensils, instead reaching in with their hands.
And one last tip: After handling all of those publicly used utensils, be sure to wash your hands before digging into your buffet bounty.
Comments