Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly one in six Americans (48 million people), 128,000 will end up in the hospital and 3,000 will die of foodborne illness. Three hundred and sixty-five million dollars are spent annually on the Salmonella infection. There are 31 major foodborne pathogens that are known to cause foodborne illnesses.
Foodborne illnesses are infections of the gastrointestinal tract caused by food that contains harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses or chemicals. The gastrointestinal tract is a serious of organs joined in a long, twisted tube from the mouth to the anus. The most common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and chills. Some chemicals affect the nervous system causing symptoms such as headache, numbness of the skin, blurring in the vision, weakness of body, dizziness, and paralysis. Most of Foodborne Illnesses happen suddenly and only last a short time, typically lasting one to seven days. A lot of people recover on their own without going to the doctors. But rarely, a foodborne illness may lead to more serious issues to a person such as dehydration, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and chronic including reactive arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome or long lasting health problems. However, there are some people who are most likely to develop foodborne illnesses such as infants, children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with weak immune systems.
Raw foods of any animal origin such as raw meat and poultry, raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw shellfish are most likely to be contaminated. Fruits and vegetables can also be contaminated if the fields were fertilized with animal waste and if the produce was cleaned with unclean water. Raw ...
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...uch. Foods that need to be cooked should be cooked long enough at a high temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that may be on them. For roast, steaks, and chops of beef, veal, pork, and lamb should be cooked at 145 degrees. For ground beef, veal, pork, and lamb should be cooked at a temperature of 160 degrees. Poultry should be cooked at 165 degrees.
Foodborne Illnesses can be prevented easily if you know what to look for and how to prevent it. Reducing the number of infections will require stronger actions to prevent food contamination at multiple steps from the farm to the table. If you reduce foodborne illnesses by 10%, you’ll be saving 5 million Americans each year from getting sick. The Arizona Department of Health Services predict that in year 2020, the Salmonella infection will have dropped by 25% and a 25% to 50% drop in the other top five infections.
Reducing the risk of salmonellosis from these farms would include food safety practices such as: washing eggs and hands thoroughly, making sure that the farm is kept in good condition, feeding the chickens good food, and using fresh water
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. ...
E. Coli and other foodborne illnesses are something that should be of major concern to everybody, becasue nobody is safe from it. It is not something that can be prevented or
Many say that history repeats itself, and throughout history, the spread of food-borne diseases has been constantly threatening humans. Salmonella, a disease which attacks numerous people a year, has returned, infected, and put people under panic of what they are eating. According to Foodborne Diseases, it is stated that “Salmonella comprises a large and diverse group of Gram-negative rods. Salmonellae are ubiquitous and have been recovered from some insects and nearly all vertebrate species, especially humans, livestock, and companion animals” (Gray and Fedorka-Cray 55). Because of the flexibility and the ability to reproduce rapidly, this infamous disease still remains as one of the most common threats in our society as well as an unconquerable problem that humans face these days.
Diseases: The most common health concern associated with S. aureus is food poisoning caused by the release of enterotoxins, even in small doses, into food. Release of less than 1 microgram of toxin is sufficient to contaminate food enough to illicit symptoms of food poisoning. The infective dose of toxin is generally present when food is contaminated with an excess of 100,000 bacteria per gram of food. The intensity and variety of symptoms resulting from S. aureus food poisoning differ from individual to individual, but some of the most common symptoms are nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and prostration (complete physical or mental exhaustion). It usually takes 2 or 3 days to recover from S. aureus food poisoning, but in some instances individuals will require more time to fully recover.
Eating food that was contaminated by kitchen utensils or other foods that had contact with raw, contaminated meat
Salmonella is a gram-negative rod, which is known to infect humans, birds, and other mammals by invading and irritating the intestines. It is more common in poultry and swine which, if consumed, can cause diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. The infectious disease can be found almost everywhere and anywhere, including in water, animal feces, raw poultry, and raw seafood. Animals consume salmonella from the soil or contaminated processed feed. In humans, salmonella can lead to a developing typhoid-like fever that persists among other symptoms. However, there is no vaccine available for Salmonella but no treatment is needed because the infection is usually simply fought off by the immune system. There are various ways of preventing the salmonella infection as well, for example, careful cleaning of hands and utensils while cooking are simple preventative actions. Keeping clean and properly preparing food are the best ways contamination and spread of Salmonella can be avoided.
Health and Economic Burdens of Norovirus Disease – The health burden of foodborne norovirus is significant (Painter et al., 2013). Norovirus causes a significant morbidity in terms of the number of outbreaks and associated illnesses each year in the United States. Hall et al. (2013) analyzed surveillance data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and derived estimates for AGE (acute gastroenteritis) associated with norovirus and found that about 19 to 21 million AGE illnesses, 400,000 emergency room visits, 1.7 to 1.9 million outpatient visits, 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations, and 570 to 800 deaths are caused by norovirus disease (Hall et al., 2013). ). There is an estimated 1 million pediatric cases requiring health provider intervention, 1 out of 14 children will require emergency room intervention and 1 out of every 6 children will require outpatient intervention (Wikswo & Hall, 2012; Hall et al., 2013). Norovirus is a major cause of morbidity for the general population. Children, the elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems and co-morbidities (McCabe-Sellers & Beatte, 2004) are particularly vulnerable to the effects of the virus. The economic burden of foodborne norovirus is significant (Painter et al., 2013). Researchers examined 14 foodborne pathogens that account for 95% of all confirmed foodborne illnesses and associated hospitalizations and 98% of deaths in the United States. One of the 14 pathogens evaluated was norovirus. On an annual basis, norovirus-associated hospitalizations are estimated to cost about $500 million (Batz et al., 2011; Bartsch et al, 2012). Healthcare costs and losses in productivity cost about $2 billion and results in the loss of 5,000 Q...
E. coli are bacteria that can cause an infection in various parts of your body, including your intestines. E. coli bacteria normally live in the intestines of people and animals. Most types of E. coli do not cause infections, but some produce a poison (toxin) that can cause diarrhea. Depending on the toxin, this can cause mild or severe diarrhea.
Salmonella typhoid bacteria have over 100 strains in the world today. Most cause illness in humans, but only a few of those strains cause the illness Typhoid Fever (Pike, 2014). Typhoid is a bacterium that has been very devastating to the human race for centuries. Typhoid thrives in undeveloped countries and countries with high populations and poor sanitation procedures. But, it is still a relevant disease here in the United States because of its ease of spread once someone is infected (Pollack, 2003). Antibiotic treatment is usually successful when treating Typhoid Fever, but it still has the ability to cause death, even with treatment of advanced medicine and antibiotics. When one thinks of salmonella, they will most commonly think of a food borne illness (food poisoning symptoms) caused by eating raw or undercooked animal products such as undercooked chicken or pork. That is the effect of some strains of the bacteria, but not the one that causes typhoid fever (Pike, 2014).
Health Canada estimates that about two million Canadian suffers foodborne illness per year and CDC (Center for Disease Control) estimates approximately 76 million foodborne illness cases occur in the United States per year. However, many foodborne illness cases are unreported. Some of the most common bacteria and viruses that cause foodborne illness are Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Hepatitis. In the following report, you will read some of the major foodborne illness outbreaks in Canada and United States.
Food-borne transmission refers to any illness that results due to the consumption of contaminated food, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as chemical or natural toxins such as poisonous mushrooms (cdc.gov). Bacteria is the most often the pathogen that causes food-borne illness. This is usually due to improper handling of foods, improper preparation of food and improper food storage. According to the CDC, the top 5 contributing pathogens to food-borne illness are Norovirus, non-typhoidal Salmonella, Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus aureus.
Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Food borne illnesses are diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. “In industrialized countries, the percentage of people suffering from food borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30%. In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.” (Geneva 2)
If all of the four steps are followed accordingly, a person can decrease their chances of obtaining a food borne illness and even something as simple as a common cold. Eating is something that we do multiple times a day, it is very important that we take these steps very seriously because we may not just be harming only ourselves but others as well. As individuals we must do our part by ensuring that we properly handle and prepare our meals. It is also important that departments like the FDA and USDA do their part in the process as well. If our food is regulated and monitored and we do our part, there is a very good chance that we can avoid getting sick and live healthier lives.
According to the recent studies around 76 million illness i.e. 325,000 hospitalization in the United States are caused because of food poisoning.