At the Ballpark: How to Avoid Getting a Food-Borne Illness from Your Stadium Snack

July 29, 2010 — -- From Fenway to Candlestick, every year thousands of sports fans pile into stadiums to root on their teams, boo the opposition and chomp down on some stadium staple foods.

But before you say "buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks," -- not to mention hotdogs, burgers and the like -- you may want to consider a report recently published by ESPN that revealed some shocking food safety issues in some of the 107 North American arenas and stadiums.

At 30 of the venues, more than half of the concession stands or restaurants had been cited for at least one "critical" or "major" health violation, according to a review of public health records by ESPN's "Outside the Lines".

CLICK HERE to see how safe the food is at a stadium near you with an interactive map at ESPN.com.

The violations increase the chance of acquiring a food-borne illness for unwitting customers who often have no other options because many stadiums impose strict regulations on bringing food into the stadium.

The International Association of Assembly Managers, a public assembly facilities trade organization, issued a statement saying its members were committed to the highest standards of operation and service.

"Stadiums and arenas safely serve hundreds of millions of fans annually, and creating memorable experiences for fans has been -- and will continue to be -- a primary focus for the managers of these venues," Dexter King, IAAM's president and CEO, said in a release.

Here are some tips to prevent acquiring a food-borne illness:

Be especially careful with raw meat, chicken and fish. These items are all high risk for transmitting bacteria and parasites and you should only eat them at reputable places, something in question at stadiums and arenas after the Health Department findings. If you only realize that your food is raw after you bite into it, spit it out right away. Undercooked chicken is especially concerning for salmonella and undercooked meat is concerning for E. coli.