Healthy adults may experience no symptoms from certain strains of bacteria that cause food poisoning – another reason to keep your health top priority. Those who have a higher risk of contracting a food-borne illness are people who are already sick; people with weakened immune systems and chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cancer, newborns, pregnant women, and the elderly should be more aware of the potential risks and preventative measures associated with food poisoning.
1. What Popular Belief Says
Contrary to popular belief, food poisoning is not usually the result of the last item you ate or drank. In most cases, it can take up to 76 hours for symptoms to appear. Symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, and stomach cramps, may last 1 to 7 days, but in extreme cases can last up to 21 days or more and if severe enough and untreated food poisoning can result in death. It is interesting to note that you can carry the organism in your gut for a long time after your symptoms have stopped.
Here are a few statistics that may be good to know:
1. 20% of cases are the result of food prepared in the home.
2. 2-3% of food poisoning cases lead to a second long-term illness such as cause arthritis, kidney failure, meningitis, and Guillain-Barre syndrome depending on which specific pathogen triggered the food poisoning.
3. As a direct result of food-borne illness, each year in the U.S. 48 million people get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 people die.
2. Toxins and Risk
Food poisoning can be triggered by the presence of bacteria, viruses, or chemical toxins. The most common types of bacteria that contaminate food are:
Salmonella
Which can also cause typhoid fever, and reproduces rapidly with a cell division rate of 20-40 minutes.
Listeria
Which can grow and multiply in some foods in the refrigerator, can live in a food processing factory for years after being introduced, and is common in ready to eat meats that may not typically be heated i.e. hot dogs and deli meats.
Campylobacter
Which also triggers 40% of the cases of Guillain-Barre’s syndrome which occurs because this specific pathogen affects the nerves in the body and the immune system attacks the nerves causing paralysis.
E. Coli
Most types of e coli are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy adults and animals, 2-7% of cases lead to kidney failure, and is most commonly spread by eating undercooked meat, drinking raw milk and/or eating raw vegetables that have been contaminated, or swallowing polluted water.
3. Can You Prevent Food Poisoning?
It has been discovered that there is no benefit to washing meats and poultry prior to cooking, and if the item is contaminated it may actually spread the bacteria to other food items through contact. Bacteria also cannot be destroyed by freezing. The only way to kill bacteria is by cooking at the proper temperatures. To destroy salmonella, food must be heated at 131 Fahrenheit for 90 minutes, or 141 for 12 minutes. To destroy E.coli in meat the internal temperature must reach 160. Meat can brown before the bacteria is killed, so it is important to use a meat thermometer to confirm the temperature.
If you are at a higher risk for food poisoning it would be beneficial to maintain good personal hygiene, wash your hands frequently, clean and sanitize food preparation surfaces and equipment, and store raw and cooked foods separately. Contaminated food can look, smell, and taste normal so it is important to always follow proper food handling procedures regardless of how the food appears.