Expert: Mary Hughes-Cole - 11/16/2002

Question
Mary,

I am the food prep person for wilderness camping canoe trips and other camping trips for my husband and I and our friends on which refrigeration is impractical or impossible (once beyond a few days). I'm looking for ways to increase food options.  Obviously, safety is paramount.  I am wondering if a vacuum food sealer might off us some alternatives for safe use of non-dehydrated foods.  I have quite a lot of microbiology training so am very familiar with sterile technique, microbial contamination, etc. And I home can (pressure canner). I wondered if you know if these systems will allow sterilization of the bags/containers with food in them before sealing or if you can steer me to someone/some place for further investigation.  

Answer
Hello Ginny,

Glad to know that there are some people in this world who have the kind of knowledge that is required for the tasks they are undertaking.  Most people ask me questions after the fact and in some cases I'm horrified what they have done or are doing before asking questions.  The following websites should be quite satisfying.  Although you did not ask me personally for my input, I will tell you that many times I have camped out early on in my life as my father was a boy scout leader and quite the outdoorsman.  He taught us a great deal about survival and I can survive outdoors in the wild quite well.  We did very well on all out camping expeditions and ate very well as I remember.  We had a variety of foods we brought, ate fish we caught and since we knew what we could eat from the land we ate that too, like fruits and berries.  I can remember many times eating what is called musky-dimes from a vine near the river as we fished.  We caught and cooked with canned lard, the fish we caught.  We relied heavily upon the fish but also brought jerky, we prepared ourselves and canned foods.  Many river outposts have little stores that sell corn meal, flour, onions, beans and such.  I would personally not try to take vacuumed sealed foods.  Bacteria in foods, does not always show up and I have seen foods that were properly prepared end up with botulism in it and only if you were an expert like yourself could you tell.  What if one of the children got into the food and you were not able to examine it before hand.  Check out this website that follows and also you might want to look under wilderness camping on line.  Another reference would to check out some books in the library or get one from Amazon.com on Food Safety Issues.

Here is the web site you will want to research, http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/
When you get there, it is the-
Federal Consumer Information Center Pueblo Colorado,
When you get there, click on
Food, When you get there, click on-

Can Your Kitchen pass the Food Safety Test?  
1998 528GG Free
That web site is http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdkitchn.html
The phone number for the about Center is 1-888 INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332)
When you get there, click on Food

U.S Food and Drug Administration
5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville
MD 2085 7-0001
When you get there, click on Food

Food borne Illness, Nutrition, Dietary Supplements…
Program Areas
Food Additives and Pre-market Approval
www.FoodSafety.gov
Gateway to Government Food Safety Information
When you get there, click on
Food
When you get there, click on
Food Additives and Pre-Market Approval
When you get there, it is
EAFUS A FOOD ADDITIVE DATA BASE
US Food and Drug Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

Good Luck,
Mary