Charcuterie boards are all the fashion for Valentine’s Day. However do in addition they include well being dangers?

Love is within the air, and Valentine’s Day-themed charcuterie boards are taking up Instagram. These festive platters flip deli meats into roses and hearts, providing a romantic twist to your nibbling expertise. (Although zero judgment if you wish to get pleasure from these boards solo too.)

Earlier than you totally embrace this culinary development, nonetheless, specialists advocate a contact of warning. In any case, there’s nothing much less romantic than getting a nasty bout of food poisoning and lacking out on all the opposite delectable treats fashionable round this time of yr. Right here’s what it is advisable to know.

Are charcuterie boards wholesome?

Whereas charcuterie boards can embody a spread of bites, from cheeses to nuts and crackers, we’re focusing at this time on the star of the present: the deli meats. Deli meats provide protein, which is nice for crushing your starvation and serving to to construct and keep muscle, however specialists warn that these kinds of precooked or cured meat slices additionally include a not-so-great sidekick: a ton of sodium.

“Cured meats are handled with salt, nitrates and nitrites previous to the curing course of,” Dr. Kirsten Bechtel, a professor of emergency medication on the Yale Faculty of Drugs, tells Yahoo Life. “Whereas this makes the meat extra shelf secure and supplies nice taste, a single ounce of cured meats can have as much as 600 mg of sodium.”

Because the really helpful day by day allowance is not more than 2,300 mg of sodium for a wholesome grownup, it’s attainable you can rack up that quantity with simply 4 oz. of cured meat from a charcuterie board, Bechtel factors out. Whereas sodium is important for our our bodies to operate, an excessive amount of sodium can increase blood pressure and put us at risk for heart disease.

Jamie Pronschinske, a registered dietician on the Mayo Clinic Well being System in La Crosse, Wis., tells Yahoo Life that you would be able to nonetheless snack on a charcuterie board — simply add some completely different elements with the intention to steadiness out your sodium consumption. “Including recent fruit and veggies or utilizing unsalted nuts on the board can assist to cut back the sodium content material,” she says. This will additionally assist you steadiness out your protein and fats consumption with fiber, permitting you to remain satiated longer.

Are charcuterie boards suitable for eating?

There are inherent risks that come with consuming deli meat, says Pronschinske, together with encountering micro organism that may trigger foodborne sickness, resembling listeria. “Deli meats, chilly cuts and dry sausages may be contaminated with listeria when they’re made or ready at services the place listeria persists,” she explains. Though cooking, fermenting or drying kills germs, these meats can get contaminated afterward in the event that they contact surfaces with listeria. Refrigeration doesn’t kill listeria, however reheating to 165°F or till steaming sizzling earlier than consuming will kill any germs which may be on these meats, Pronschinske says.

It’s not only a hypothetical threat. In 2022, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention warned of a listeria outbreak linked to deli meats, which left one dead and 13 people hospitalized. There was additionally one miscarriage after a pregnant individual turned sick, which is why some medical doctors recommend those that are pregnant keep away from sure meals like deli meats attributable to elevated threat of foodborne sicknesses that may have an effect on the fetus.

“Pregnant ladies, younger kids, the aged and people with weak immune methods ought to chorus normally from consuming charcuterie boards as a result of threat of cross contamination or contamination of meals by listeria,” says Bechtel. Along with listeria being present in deli meat, she shares, the micro organism has additionally been linked to unpasteurized cheese, which can discover itself in your charcuterie board.

It’s not simply listeria it is advisable to fear about. Earlier this yr, greater than 11,000 kilos of charcuterie meat was recalled across eight states attributable to a possible salmonella contamination. Salmonella is a sort of micro organism that may trigger meals poisoning in people, and contamination usually happens by means of the consumption of contaminated meals. Charcuterie meats had been additionally linked to one of these micro organism in 2021, when an outbreak infected 24 people.

Learn how to keep away from foodborne sickness if you’re consuming charcuterie

Charcuterie boards are supposed to be picked at, usually over an extended time frame than your typical served meal. That may add some further threat to consuming the meals.

Bechtel recommends that meats, cheeses and produce be refrigerated for no less than two hours earlier than being displayed on a charcuterie board to make sure that they’re chilly sufficient earlier than being consumed. That’s as a result of the “danger zone” for food temperature is breached when refrigerated meals has a temperature over 40 levels Fahrenheit. That may happen, Bechtel explains, if a charcuterie board is out at room temperature for greater than two hours.

“I’d change objects on a charcuterie board if it has been out for greater than two hours,” Bechtel says, as naturally occurring micro organism, particularly in meats and cheeses, can quickly multiply when the meals temperature is bigger than 40 levels Fahrenheit. If the air temperature is 90 levels Fahrenheit or above, meals on a charcuterie board shall be over 40 levels Fahrenheit in an hour — which seemingly isn’t an enormous concern for this February vacation, however is value figuring out.

If you’re consuming a charcuterie board the place the meats have been folded into enjoyable shapes, it’s best to make sure that the individual crafting the board has correctly washed their arms. Typically, foodborne sicknesses come from cross-contamination with fecal matter, which may be prevented with correct hygiene.

In the end, there’s no purpose to skip the charcuterie board this Valentine’s Day, particularly if you happen to observe the well being and meals security ideas you’d another day of the yr.