Food Borne Illness Information pdf guide

FoodBorne Illness Information

  Foodborne Illness '' also foodborne disease and colloquially referred to as food poisoning''is any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as chemical or natural toxins such as poisonous mushrooms. Symptoms vary depending on the cause, and are described below in this article. A few broad
generalizations can be made, eg, The incubation period ranges from hours to days, depending on the cause and on how much was consumed. The incubation period tends to cause sufferers to not associate the symptoms with the item consumed, and so to cause sufferers to attribute the symptoms to gastroenteritis for example. Symptoms often include vomiting, fever, and aches, and may include diarrhea. Bouts of vomiting can be repeated with an extended delay in between, because even if infected food was eliminated from the stomach in the first bout, microbes '' if applicable '' can pass through the stomach into the intestine via cells lining the intestinal walls and begin to multiply. Some types of microbes stay in the intestine, some produce a toxin that is absorbed into the bloodstream, and some can directly invade deeper body tissues. Causes'' Foodborne illness usually arises from improper handling, preparation, or food storage. Good hygiene practices before, during, and after food preparation can reduce the chances of contracting an illness. There is a consensus in the public health community that regular hand-washing is one of the most effective defenses against the spread of foodborne illness. The action of monitoring food to ensure that it will not cause foodborne illness is known as food safety. Foodborne disease can also be caused by a large variety of toxins that affect the environment. Foodborne illness can also be caused by pesticides or medicines in food and naturally toxic substances such as poisonous mushrooms or reef fish... Emerging foodborne pathogens'' Many foodborne illnesses remain poorly understood. Approximately 99.9% percent of outbreaks are caused by unknown sources. Preventing bacterial food poisoning'' Prevention is mainly the role of the state, through the definition of strict rules of hygiene and a public services of veterinary surveying of animal products in the food chain, from farming to the transformation industry and delivery ''shops and restaurants''. This regulation includes: traceability: in a final product, it must be possible to know the origin of the ingredients ''originating farm, identification of the harvesting or of the animal'' and where and when it was processed; the origin of the illness can thus be tracked and solved ''and possibly penalized'', and the final products can be removed from the sale if a problem is detected; enforcement of hygiene procedures such as HACCP and the "cold chain"; power of control and of law enforcement of veterinarians. In August 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved Phage therapy which involves spraying meat with viruses that infect bacteria, and thus preventing infection. This has raised concerns, because without mandatory labelling consumers would not be aware that meat and poultry products have been treated with the spray. At home, prevention mainly consists of good food safety practices. Many forms of bacterial poisoning can be prevented even if food is contaminated by cooking it sufficiently, and either eating it quickly or refrigerating it effectively[citation needed]. Many toxins, however, are not destroyed by heat treatment. Techniques that help prevent food borne illness in the kitchen are hand washing, preventing cross-contamination, proper storage, and maintaining cooking temperatures. In general, freezing or refrigerating prevents virtually all bacteria from growing, and heating food sufficiently kills parasites, viruses, and most bacteria. The "danger zone" is a zone of temperatures in which bacteria grow most rapidly, which is 40 °F-150 °F''clarification needed''. Storing food below or above the "danger zone" can effectively limit the production of toxins. For storing leftovers, the food must be put in shallow containers for quick cooling and must be refrigerated within two hours. When food is reheated, it must reach an internal temperature of 165 °C ''329 °F'' or until hot or steaming to kill bacteria. Mycotoxins and alimentary mycotoxicoses The term alimentary mycotoxicoses refers to the effect of poisoning by Mycotoxins ''The term 'mycotoxin' is usually reserved for the toxic chemical products produced by fungi that readily colonize crops'' through food consumption. Mycotoxins sometimes have important effects on human and animal health. For example, an outbreak which occurred in the UK in 1960 caused the death of 100,000 turkeys which had consumed aflatoxin-contaminated peanut meal. In the USSR in World War II, 5,000 people died due to Alimentary Toxic Aleukia ''ALA''. The common foodborne Mycotoxins include: Aflatoxins''originated from Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus flavus. They are frequently found in tree nuts, peanuts, maize, sorghum and other oilseeds, including corn and cottonseeds. The pronounced forms of Aflatoxins are those of B1, B2, G1, and G2, amongst which Aflatoxin B1 predominantly targets the liver, which will result in necrosis, cirrhosis, and carcinoma. In the US, the acceptable level of total aflatoxins in foods is less than 20 μg/kg, except for Aflatoxin M1 in milk, which should be less than 0.5 μg/kg.[18] The official document can be found at FDA's website.[ Altertoxins – are those of Alternariol ''AOH'', Alternariol methyl ether (AME), Altenuene ''ALT'' Altertoxin-1''ATX-1'' Tenuazonic acid ''TeA''and Radicinin ''RAD''originated from Alternaria spp. Some of the toxins can be present in sorghum, ragi, wheat and tomatoes.Some research has shown that the toxins can be easily cross-contaminated between grain commodities, suggesting that manufacturing and storage of grain commodities is a critical practice.. Natural toxins'' Several foods can naturally contain toxins, many of which are not produced by bacteria. Plants in particular may be toxic; animals which are naturally poisonous to eat are rare. In evolutionary terms, animals can escape being eaten by fleeing; plants can use only passive defenses such as poisons and distasteful substances, for example capsaicin in chili peppers and pungent sulfur compounds in garlic and onions. Most animal poisons are not synthesised by the animal, but acquired by eating poisonous plants to which the animal is immune, or by bacterial action. Infectious dose'' The infectious dose is the amount of agent that must be consumed to give rise to symptoms of foodborne illness, and varies according to the agent and the consumer's age and overall health. In the case of Salmonella a relatively large inoculum of 1 million to 1 billion organisms is necessary to produce symptoms in healthy human volunteers, as Salmonellae are very sensitive to acid. An unusually high stomach pH level (low acidity) greatly reduces the number of bacteria required to cause symptoms by a factor of between 10 and 100.....

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