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Food Safety: What Is Hiding In Your Food?
This is the time that we all need to pay particular
attention to the fact that food safety is NOT something
to be taken lightly. Although just the thought of
suffering from nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea
should be enough to motivate people to take food safety
seriously, often people don’t think about it until it’s
too late.
Over 250 organisms are known to cause foodborne
illnesses. The causes of foodborne illness include
viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins, metals, and prions,
and the symptoms of foodborne illness range from mild
gastroenteritis to life-threatening neurologic, hepatic,
and renal syndromes. In the United States, foodborne
diseases have been estimated to cause 6 million to 81
million illnesses and up to 9,000 deaths each year.
Keeping track of people who actually suffer from
foodborne illness is complicated by several factors. The
first is that many cases are not ever reported. If you
are sick, but not sick enough to see your doctor or be
hospitalized, it’s unlikely you would report it to the
CDC. However, the CDC requests that you do report it if
you do suspect you suffered from food illness after
eating at a restaurant. There are many cases where this
reporting helped stop a potential serious outbreak.
A foodborne disease outbreak is defined as a group of
people developing the same illnesses after ingesting the
same food. If you think you or others became ill from
eating the same food, please report this outbreak to
your local (city or county) health department. By
investigating outbreaks, public health officials learn
about problems in food production that lead to illness.
Applying what is learned in the investigation of one
outbreak can help to prevent many future illnesses.
Second, many pathogens transmitted through food are also
spread through water or from person to person, thus
obscuring the role of foodborne transmission. Finally,
some proportion of foodborne illness is caused by
pathogens or agents that have not yet been identified
and thus cannot be diagnosed. The importance of this
final factor cannot be overstated. Many of the pathogens
of greatest concern today (e.g., Campylobacter jejuni,
Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes,
Cyclospora cayetanensis) were not recognized as causes
of foodborne illness just 20 years ago.
Do you know how long that potato salad has sat out? Do
you know what may have stopped by to ‘visit’ your
container of mayo salad dressing topping that’s on the
table, next to the hot dogs? Never take food safety
lightly. Just to emphasize the point, spend some time on
this site from a mother who lost her daughter to food
poisoning: http://www.geocities.com/tysca66/kelly.html .
Here are some tips how you can practice food safety at
your summer barbeques and picnics:
Wash hands.
Frequently wash your hands – before and after eating. If
you anticipate no running water available where you are,
be sure to pack a waterless hand sanitizer in your bag.
Remind family members to do the same.
Check that cold foods are cold.
Be certain that foods you are eating are as cold as they
should be. Be sure bowls of cold food are nesting in
bowls filled with ice.
Check how the meats are cooked.
Before biting into a burger – break it open to be sure
it looks thoroughly cooked – brown in the middle. Be
sure you do not eat chicken that has pink inside.
Pay attention to how food is served.
Check that each salad or plate of food has its own
serving utensils.
Eat once food is served.
Eating once food is brought out lessens the chance of
bacteria growing as it sits out.
Ask your host.
Finally – if you have any questions about how the food
was prepared or how long something has been out – ASK.
Chances are your host or hostess will want to assure you
that she has taken appropriate food-safety precautions
as she prepared for the barbecue.
Summer is a great time to get together with friends and
family and enjoy some summer foods – just be sure to
take those necessary precautions. |
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