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Food Borne Illness

Everybody consumes food and everybody needs to be concerned with their food to ensure food borne illness doesn't ruin your day (life!)

Food borne illness can range from mild, a day or two of intense pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, to serious, lifetime on dialysis, to down right deadly. High risk groups such as our elderly or children are especially vulnerable. Having a two year old die from E.Coli is devastating and should not be happening in the 21st century!

Food safety can be a complicated affair; whether it is wild pigs roaming through spinach fields, a refrigerated truck with a malfunctioning cooling unit, or a cook that doesn't wash their hands, it can be bewildering especially for those who have never dealt with the issues before.

This web site gives an outline of food safety and what is being done at various stages of production but what about you? What can you do to prevent a tragedy in your life?

Obviously you cannot go inspect farms and processing plants yourself. That is what inspectors do. You can, however, shop at reputable stores; let them know you demand top flight food safety plans. They will appreciate the feedback too. Everyone needs to be reminded of the lives they hold in their hands.

You personally cannot control all aspects of food safety but you can do practical steps in you own life that can make a difference. The internet abounds with information on food safety. The links found within these pages will help your search immensely.

 

 

These simple Fight Bac steps can help you protect yourself and your loved ones.

Clean: Wash your hands and food contact surfaces often.

Food Borne Illness

Here are some of the food borne illness found:

Want more on bugs?

These external links have lots of information

Bacteria are easily spread by the hitchhiking rides on people's hands, cutting board, counter tops, wiping cloths and on the food itself.

  • Wash your hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food and after using the bathroom, changing diapers and handling pets.
  • Wash your cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and before you go on to the next food.
  • Consider using paper towels to clean up kitchen surfaces.  If you use cloth towels wash them often in the hot cycle of your washing machine.
  • Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water, including those with skins and rinds that are not eaten.
  • Rub firm-skin fruits and vegetables under running tap water or scrub with a clean vegetable brush while rinsing with running tap water.

Separate

  • Separate raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs from other foods in your grocery shopping cart, grocery bags and in your refrigerator.
  • Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood.
  • Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs.

Cook
Food is safely cooked when it reaches a high enough internal temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that cause food borne illness. Use a food thermometer to measure the internal temperature of cooked foods. Refer to our fact sheet on the proper use of thermometers.

  • Use a food thermometer which measures the internal temperature of cooked meat, poultry and egg dishes, to make sure that the food is cooked to a safe internal temperature.
  • Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer.
  • Cook ground meat, where bacteria can spread during grinding, to at least 71°C (160°F). Remember, color is not a reliable indicator of doneness.  Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of your burgers.
  • Cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm, not runny. Don't use recipes in which eggs remain raw or only partially cooked.
  • Cook fish to 63°C (145°F) or until the flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork.
  • Make sure there are no cold spots in food (where bacteria can survive) when cooking in a microwave oven. For best results, cover food, stir and rotate for even cooking. If there is no turntable, rotate the dish by hand once or twice during cooking.
  • Bring sauces, soups and gravy to a boil when reheating. Heat other leftovers thoroughly to 74°C (165°F).
  Last Update: May 6, 2008