Final answer:
The claim that hot sauce can kill microbes in raw foods is false; it alone is not effective for sterilization. Proper food safety practices, including thorough cooking and sanitization, must be followed to prevent foodborne diseases.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that hot sauce can kill the microbes in raw foods is false. While some components of hot sauce, such as vinegar and capsaicin, may have antimicrobial properties, they are usually not sufficient to completely sterilize food. To effectively reduce the risk of foodborne disease, it is important to follow proper food safety protocols, which include regular handwashing, rotating food to use older items first, ensuring perishable foods are not expired, rinsing fresh produce, and cooking food to at least 74 degrees C (165 degrees F) as verified by a cooking thermometer.
Moreover, sanitization methods such as heat treatment, use of chemicals, and even ionizing radiation, which can penetrate surfaces, are designed to substantially reduce or eliminate microbial presence.
Moist-heat sterilization protocols, which require higher temperatures for longer periods than dry-heat sterilization protocols, are particularly effective at killing microbes in food. Also, as high-pressure processing is known to kill microbes, hot sauce alone cannot be relied upon for ensuring food safety.