Millions of vacationers will pack a picnic basket and head to the parks and beaches this Memorial Day weekend we hope you re among them and we here at ACSH urge everyone to eat their potato salad till to their heart s content.
As discussed in the newly-revised ACSH publication Health and Safety Tips for Your Summer Vacation , many people are scared of eating potato and chicken salads at summer picnics because they ve heard mayonnaise-laden dishes are the ones most likely to cause food poisoning. Somehow mayo has taken the blame but ACSH is here to tell you that that s a bad rap. The mayonnaise is innocent!
Everyone I know thinks mayonnaise causes food poisoning, says ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. This is false. Mayonnaise actually protects you from food poisoning. If you get sick from your chicken salad, you get sick from the chicken having been contaminated, not from the mayonnaise.
ACSH sorts through a number of other bogus myths and real dangers in Health and Safety Tips for Your Summer Vacation , released today on our website.