Common Factors Contributing to Food Poisoning
Food poisoning can be defined as:
“An acute (arising suddenly and of short duration) gastroenteritis
caused by the ingestion of food.” – www.food.gov.uk
Food poisoning is characterized by the following symptoms:
· Abdominal Pain
· Diarrhoea
· With or without vomiting
· With or without fever
Major problems with food poisoning occur in the very young, the very
elderly and those with otherwise reduced immunological defences. The
major problem is with dehydration and loss of electrolytes and is a
main cause of infant and child mortality in the developing world.
Some authors exclude food-borne illness that are caused by primary
human pathogens (that are adapted to the human host) from their
definition of food poisoning, examples include Salmonella Typhoid and
Dysentery caused by Shigella Dysenteriae. The term ‘food poisoning’ is
reserved for those diseases produced by bacterial exotoxins, for
example this would include Staphylococcus Aureus and Clostridium
Perfringens but would exclude Salmonella. – (Garbutt 1997)
Campylobacter Jejuni is the most common cause of food poisoning. It
is a gram-negative organism with an incubation period commonly of 3-5
days.
Contamination
Live tissue in animals is essentially sterile with but it is during
food preparation that it can become contaminated at any stage of the
process. The most critical stages are skinning and evisceration as it
is the hide and the intestines that contain the animal’s micro-flora
along with organisms present in faeces and soil. Abattoir hygiene
must be kept to a very high ...
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...emain infected for weeks, sometimes months.
Pests
Pests such as flies, cockroaches, mice, rats and birds all carry food
poisoning organism. Careful effort must be made to ensure any food
storage or preparation area is pest free. Methods of prevention can
include rodent traps and UV fly killers. Salmonella is naturally
found in the intestine of most animals, domestic or wild, including
mammals, birds and insects. It is excreted in large numbers in faeces
and can remain viable for years within the faecal material.
Bibliography
Essentials of Food Microbiology
John Garbutt, Arnold (1997)
Human Nutrition – A Health Perspective
Mary. E. Barasi 2003 – Arnold (2003)
Human Nutrition and Dietetics
Garrow, James & Ralph – Churchill Livingstone (2004)
www.food.gov.uk
www.bromley.gov.uk
Almost every angle of the food industry can be considered dangerous. It is dangerous to make the food, as a meatpacking job is one that is viewed as having abnormally high risks; however when the food is handed over a counter on a tray or prepared in a family of four’s kitchen, it poses a huge risk to humankind. Foodborne illnesses are all too common and almost everybody has the possiblity of contracting a foodborne illness. These are life threatening diseases that need to be monitored and regulated; therefore the enforcement of government regulations in the fast food industry could potentially save many lives that are lost annually due to the numerous factors that need regulation.
Furthermore, food safety is a major issue in the United States. Foodborne illness has caused an estimated 1 and 6 Americans to be sickened, 128,000 hospitalizations, and cause 3,000 deaths each year (http://www.sustainabletable.org/). These numbers may seem shocking, but they are all too real. All of the high levels
still a factor that continuously infects humans. In Foodborne Diseases, it says that “They [Salmonell...
Salmonella is one danger that has caused many effects to consumers. Walsh writes about one incident when an outbreak “from tainted peanuts that killed at least eight people and sickened 600,” (Walsh 167). This incident left many people asking the same question, how can we trust the food that we put into our bodies? Salmonella, a type of food poisoning caused by bacteria found on different food types has caused an epidemic because of its domino effect on food and our health. Once one factory is contaminated, that factory could be housing both crops and meat, which is then transferred to our supermarkets and on our dinner tables. ...
We live in an environment full of microorganisms. These organisms may be pathogenic causing serious infections to humans and other living organisms, some just commensals while others are helpful in the food industry. The harmful effect of these organisms is a function of the condition that surrounds them at a particular time. For example, a favorable temperature, and the acidity or alkalinity of the medium in which they find themselves are some of the key factors that helps them multiply well enough to cause infection.
Cholera is a disease that was caused because of the lack of sanitation in food
Fast food has been a very common solution for on the go eating because a restaurant is located at almost every corner and the convenience of drive thrus give people the luxury of not even having to get out of their car. Sutter Health indicates that over 25 percent of Americans consume fast food daily. It is not a secret that fast food has been blamed for being one of the major causes of obesity. This brings up the question how exactly does fast food affect specifically your everyday activities when it is consumed. Numerous arguments have been made about how fast food can hinder your daily progress and why it should be avoided or maybe be eaten but only in moderation.
Obesity was considered an epidemic once people started to realize it was the second biggest cause of death in America. Since obesity was considered an epidemic many started to consider if banning fast food restaurants or making fast food restaurants illegal, would help decrease the obesity rate. An unhealthy lifestyle can cause obesity, health problems, and death.
I love to eat a juicy steak at a nice restaurant once in a while, but sometimes it really isn’t worth it when you have hell-spawn disrupting the evening. Children running around and screaming are just accidents waiting to happen.
What is Foodborne Illness? According to a medical dictionary, foodborne illness is an acute gastrointestinal infection caused by consuming food contaminated with pathogenic, bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions or parasites. Such contamination was caused by improper food handling, preparation or storage of food. Contacts between food and pests, especially flies, cockroaches and rodents are a further cause of contamination of food. Foodborne illness can also be caused by adding pesticides or medicine to food or consuming or by accidentally consuming naturally poisonous substances. That is why foodborne illness can also be called food poisoning.
Food borne illnesses are caused by consuming contaminated foods or beverages. There are many different disease-causing microbes, or pathogens. In addition, poisonous chemicals, or other harmful substances can cause food borne illnesses if they are present in food. More than two hundred and fifty different food borne illnesses have been described; almost all of these illnesses are infections. They are caused by a variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can be food borne. (Center 1)
...e use of strong chemicals there is concern that organic food may carry deadly bacteria. Two deadly bacteria that becomes a concern are E. coli, and Salmonella. Prevalence of Campylobacter Jejuni in organic chicken is also a concern. C.jejuni is a micro organism that frequently contaminates raw chicken. Raw milk is also a source of this infection. This bacteria can be carried by healthy cattle and flies on farms.
Food poisoning is a condition that results from eating contaminated food. It is also referred to as food-borne illness. These may attack people from any age group and lasts from few hours to several days. Food poisoning in severe case may cause chronic and fatal disease like arthritis and can attack lungs and kidneys.
The patient has experienced fever, chills on body, headaches and anorexia as well as sweating especially during the night. The patient has also been feeling fatigued, muscle aches and nausea as well as vomiting especially after eating (WHO, 2010, p. 117). These symptoms started forty eight hours ago, and the patient has not taken any medication except for some aspirin.
A SWOT analysis of the food control system in Bahrain revealed that certain strengths and weaknesses are inherent in the system. In addition to the weaknesses and the strengths, there are threats that would negatively affect the system if not prevented or brought under control. Nevertheless, the there are opportunities available for responding to the threats, making the Bahrain food control systems more efficient and effective. It is therefore important that some or all of these strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses are reviewed. Conspicuous among the weaknesses is the fact that limited resources are available for the agencies and the personnel employed in the Bahrain food control system. Related to lack of resources is the lack of skills and competencies in applying modern techniques, more so in microbiological and chemical analysis. The second weakness of the Bahrain food control system is that most of the laws and regulations on food safety and control are not based on risk- or science-based analysis. In other words, the laws could be outdated and irrelevant in comparison with the latest mechanisms by which pathogens and other contaminants affect foodstuffs (Nestle, 2007). Furthermore, Bahrain lacks the technical expertise or competent enough personnel who could assess the effectiveness and the applicability of their food control laws.