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What Causes Food
Poisoning and How to Prevent It
Any time you eat in a public location you are at a greater risk of
contracting food poisoning. These public locations are typically
places where you find many people such as festive celebrations,
hotels, group banquets, and street restaurants. Food poisoning is
caused by micro-organisms that are pathogenic in nature creating
what is known as gastroenteritis. Because food poisoning often
occurs with food consumed at these public locations, there is
usually more than one person affected. In fact, when you see more
than one person affected after eating the same food at the same
place and time then food poisoning is usually suspect.
As was mentioned before, micro-organisms can cause food poisoning.
These micro-organisms are also known as pathogenic bacteria and
produce toxins into the food causing the food poisoning. But there
is another type of food poisoning not caused by bacteria. Toxins
can also be ingested from chemicals that are part of insecticides,
household cleaning products, manufacturing products, and other
non-living chemically-based materials. But bacterial food
poisoning is the most common because it works silently and
unbeknownst to its victims.
Bacteria are living organisms therefore they need water which is
one way they are ingested. They can also be found in the
components that make up a meal. In other words, one ingredient to
the preparation of a meal taints the entire meal. It is possible
that the meal was prepared without toxic bacteria but was later
tainted at the serving location. This is something caterers need
to be careful of. And then there is the human element that can
pass bacteria to the food. Those serving the food may come to work
sick and pass bacteria that way. Dogs, rats, and other
rodents/household animals could be in the vicinity of the serving
location and pass bacteria.
No one likes cold food when it is intended to be hot. Sometimes
what happens where food is served to the masses is that it drops
to room temperature because of being out in the serving line for
quite some time. Re-heating that same food can increase the risk
of contamination by toxic bacteria.
A common food poisoning you will often hear of is Salmonella. The
different types of Salmonella are salmonella typhimurium,
salmonella choleraesuis, and salmonella enteritidis. Salmonella is
typically found in tainted dairy products such as eggs and milk.
The victim will experience vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and nausea.
Other types of food poising include Staphylococcal, Botulism,
Clostridium perfringens, and Bacillus cereus. Staphylococcal food
poisoning is the result of bacteria named staphylococcus aureus.
It is ingested through milk and its products causing
gastroenteritis. Symptoms include skin boils, abdominal cramps,
diarrhea, and vomiting.
You will also hear of botulism quite often. The bacteria causing
this are named clostridium botulinum. This type of food poisoning
is particularly dangerous in that it affects the victim’s nervous
system. Symptoms include weakness, numbness, double-vision,
paralysis, and later respiratory and cardiac failure resulting in
death. The bacteria causing Botulism is found in soil. Botulism is
typically associated with home-canned foods or canned foods where
the can is bulging because of the gases emitted by the bacteria.
Bacillus cereus is another dangerous type of bacteria because it
can continue to thrive in spite of cooking. The symptoms of food
poisoning caused by this are usually vomiting and diarrhea.
Once it is determined that food poisoning has occurred, the next
challenge is to figure out the source of it. This will involve
making a thorough examination of those who have fallen ill because
of the tainted food. This would mean testing the stools and vomit
in order to identify the specific type of bacteria causing the
poisoning. Investigation will also involve testing the water these
people drank, getting food samples from the storage/preparation
areas, and examining the food handlers. Food handlers will
probably be interviewed and questioned as to their cooking and
serving procedures.
Of course you want to prevent food poisoning before it ever
occurs. Always make sure water used in cooking is purified. Your
servers and food preparers should always wear gloves, a cap, and
masks to cover mouths. This also implies that if a food handler is
sick, he or she should stay home. Prepared food should never be
left too long at room temperature and it is best to keep it
covered. Any ingredients used in preparing food should be kept in
closed storage containers. And then there are common sense
measures such as washing all utensils, pots, and pans with hot
(not warm) soapy water and keeping the kitchen and serving area
clean.
Original Article
Source:
http://www.medicalneeds.com |
