Cross-contamination is the term used when pathogens (bacteria, viruses, parasites) that may result in food borne illnesses (food poisoning) are transferred from:
1. a surface to another surface – e.g. using the same cutting board to prepare raw meat and cooked meat
2. equipment to a food – e.g. using the same knife to cut raw meat as you use to cut up fresh vegetables for a salad
3. a food or beverage to a person – e.g. drinking raw milk that hasn’t been pasteurized.
Cross-contact is the term used when an allergen is transferred from a food to another food that didn’t have that allergen. For example, if someone has an allergy to peanuts and they asked for a salad to be made without peanuts but there were small pieces of peanut still in the salad, that is cross contact and could result in a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Another example might be if someone had celiac disease and couldn’t eat foods with gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) and dined at a restaurant that wasn’t following safe food handling practices and their gluten-free sandwich was made on the same surface as a regular wheat bread sandwich, they would experience cross-contact and be “glutened” and may experience illness.
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN
Ingles Markets Corporate Dietitian