Seniors should avoid these products:

• Raw fin fish and shellfish, including oysters, clams, mussels, and scallops.
• Raw or unpasteurized milk or cheese.
• Soft cheeses such as feta, Brie, Camembert, blue-veined, and Mexican-style cheese. (Hard cheeses, processed cheeses, cream cheese, cottage cheese, or yogurt need not be avoided.)
• Raw or lightly cooked egg or egg products including salad dressings, cookie or cake batter, sauces, and beverages such as egg nog.
• Raw meat or poultry.
• Raw alfalfa sprouts which have only recently emerged as a recognized source of foodborne illness.
• Unpasteurized or untreated fruit or vegetable juice. When fruits and vegetables are made into fresh-squeezed juice, harmful bacteria that may be present can become part of the finished product. Most juice in the United States, 98 percent, is pasteurized or otherwise treated to kill harmful bacteria. To help consumers identify unpasteurized or untreated juices, the Food and Drug Administration is requiring a warning label on these products. The label says:

  WARNING: This product has not been pasteurized and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems.

New information on food safety is constantly emerging. Recommendations and precautions are updated as scientists learn more about preventing foodborne illness. You need to be aware of and follow the most current information on food safety. Visit http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/foodborn.html for more recent information on foodborne illness.