New study: RKI warns of raclette and fondue on New Year's Eve - risk of infection

Created: 01/03/2022, 4:28 PM

From: Yasina Hipp

The RKI warns of bacteria in raclette and fondue.

© imageo / CSP_edan

Raclette and fondue in all variations, whether with meat, cheese or vegetables, are popular dishes on New Year's Eve.

Now the RKI is issuing a warning for this.

Berlin - Slide a pan covered with a lot of cheese into the raclette machine, pull the skewered bread through the liquid cheese or pull the freshly sizzled piece of meat out of the fondue pot.

If your mouth is already watering here, you are probably a big raclette or fondue fan.

Both very popular dishes for New Year's Eve: Quickly prepared, something for everyone and ideal for eating together.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) now advises against poking around in the fondue pot together.

The reason: risk of infection.

In the video: Raclette can be dangerous for pets

RKI: Raw meat and open foods as sources of danger

Anyone who immediately thinks of the coronavirus when it comes to RKI and the risk of infection is exceptionally wrong. The warning from the Berlin scientists has nothing to do with the New Year's Eve rules to contain the pandemic, but with bacteria. A new study by the RKI from November 2021 found a direct connection between the occurrence of diarrhea and previous consumption of raclette or fondue. Of 400 participants in the study who were ill, 180 people did so in the seven days after the Christmas holidays - and especially when there was fondue or raclette. Even more clear: if chicken was also on the festive table, the connection cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Raw chicken, in particular, is often contaminated with the bacteria that cause diarrhea.

The meat is raw on the table, touched with the fingers or not completely cooked in all the excitement.

In addition, contact with other foods is quite likely, if you just think of the richly laid tables with all kinds of bowls and containers.

RKI study: hygiene rules should be observed

To avoid nasty surprises after the delicious New Year's Eve dinner, the RKI therefore recommends some measures to reduce the risk of infection:

• Wash hands regularly and thoroughly.

• Sufficiently thorough cooking of the meat (at least 70 degrees inside temperature).

• Maintaining the cold chain, store the food at two to five degrees in the refrigerator.

• Keeping finished dishes warm at 65 degrees or quickly chilling them down to seven degrees will prevent germs from multiplying.

• Wash kitchen towels and rags regularly with hot water.

If these points are observed, there really is hardly anything in the way of a cozy New Year's Eve raclette or fondue at the start of the New Year 2022.