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Millions of cases of food poisonings are reported every year and thousands of people end up paying the ultimate price: death. With bacteria invading our food supply sitting down for a meal can be a scary thing. Bacteria such as E.Coli and Salmonella can cause severe illness in a person. However, eating food doesn't have to be as frightening as it may seem if you take a few simple safety measures.
Do you know what is in your refridgerator? How long has that deli meat been sitting in the back there and would you dare eat it after a week's time? There are so many differnt foods with so many different shelf lives that food safety can seem a bit confusing. Really, it's not. It is a well known fact that in reality some of the food you take home from the supermarket may indeed be carrying some kind of bacteria. Taking great care in cooking your food well done to kill off bacteria is key. Wash produce thouroughly. Eggs should be cooked through with no liquid remaining. Raw meats such as hamburger should cook until 145 degrees, pork, 170 degrees. Poultry, such as chicken, turkey, etc. should be cooked to 170 degrees as well. Another key in food safety is how long to keep raw products in the refridgerator. For most foods, a shelf life of 2 to 3 days is it. After that you would be the wiser to throw it out. Bacteria starts growing when the temperature of the food reaches about 45 degrees. So, after you thaw meat, be sure to cook it right away or it may be unsafe to consume.
Some of the bacteria described above are very dangerous. There are actually several different ones, but the most well known are E.Coli and Salmonella. E.Coli is found in beef, some produce, and unpasturized apple juice. Salmonella is mainly found in raw eggs and poultry. Cooking foods with these bacteria to the recomended cooking temperature will kill the bacteria and make the food safe to consume.
If one does become ill from a food borne bacteria, there are several symptoms that will help to identify the illness. E.Coli and Salmonella typically cause diarrhea, vomiting, cramps and fever. For most people, 4 days to a week is the recovery period. However, that can vary with each person. An elderly person or even a young child is more susceptible to the more damaging effects of these food borne illnesses. An elderly person and a young child's immune system is not as efficent in warding off illnesses and can cause these groups of people to expirence life threatening liver, kidney or even brain damage.
Let me express that there are measures you can take to prevent becoming ill in your own home. Keep track of what is in your fridge. Don't cross contaminate. By this I mean use separtate cutting boards for meat and produce. If you were to cut chicken and then lettuce, the bacteria from the chicken will transfer to the raw vegetable and make you ill. Use hot water and soap to sanitize all surfaces that come in contact with raw meats, eggs, or produce. And, finally, wash your hands. This is another problem when it comes to cross contamination. Any thing you touch after touching bacteria contaminated products can and will contaminate what ever you come in contact with. This is a real problem.
As you can see, taking these simple measures to prevent a disaster is easy and not time consuming. All it takes is a little bit of common sence and you have significantly lowered the risk of becoming ill by a food borne illness.
It is advised that if you do become ill that you contact your physician for advice.
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