FOOD POISONING
How do you know if you have food poisoning ?
Dehydration is the number one cause of headaches.
Here are some things you can do to prepare for food poisoning:
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, such as water, Gatorade, or Pedialyte, to prevent dehydration. Take small sips to keep fluids down.
- Avoid solid foods: Don’t eat solid foods until diarrhea has passed.
- Eat bland foods: When you do start eating again, eat small, bland, low-fat meals, like toast, bananas, rice, applesauce, and gelatin.
- Rest: Get plenty of rest to help you recover.
- Avoid certain substances: Avoid dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and fatty or highly seasoned foods until you feel better.
- Take over-the-counter medicines: If staying hydrated, resting, and eating a bland diet don’t help, you can try over-the-counter medicines to ease your symptoms. However, these medicines can be dangerous for children.
- Seek medical attention: If you have eaten toxins from mushrooms or shellfish, seek medical attention right away. You should also seek immediate medical attention if food poisoning leads to dehydration.
4 basic steps for food safety
1. Clean: always wash your food, hands, counters, and cooking tools.
- Wash hands in warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds. Do this before and after touching food.
- Wash your cutting boards, dishes, forks, spoons, knives, and counter tops with hot soapy water. Do this after working with each food item.
- Rinse fruits and veggies.
- Do not wash meat, poultry, fish, or eggs. If water splashes from the sink in the process of washing, it can spread bacteria.
- Clean the lids on canned goods before opening.
2. Separate (keep apart): keep raw foods to themselves. Germs can spread from one food to another.
- Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs away from other foods. Do this in your shopping cart, bags, and fridge.
- Do not reuse marinades used on raw foods unless you bring them to a boil first.
- Use a special cutting board or plate for raw foods only.
3. Cook: foods need to get hot and stay hot. Heat kills germs.
- Cook to safe temperatures:
- Beef, Pork, Lamb 145 °F
- Fish 145 °F
- Ground Beef, Pork, Lamb 160 °F
- Turkey, Chicken, Duck 165 °F
- Use a food thermometer to make sure that food is done. You can’t always tell by looking.
4. Chill: put food in the fridge right away.
- 2-Hour Rule: Put foods in the fridge or freezer within 2 hours after cooking or buying from the store. Do this within 1 hour if it is 90 degrees or hotter outside.
- Never thaw food by simply taking it out of the fridge. Thaw food:
- In the fridge
- Under cold water
- In the microwave
- Marinate foods in the fridge.
Norovirus is the most common food borne illness
Common Foodborne Disease Causes
E. COLI
Escherichia coli is a major bacteria species and can live in human intestines. Some E. coli species do not cause disease. But, there are other types of E. coli that can cause severe illness. E. coli can enter your body through contaminated food or water, and is often involved in major foodborne outbreaks around the world. Protect yourself and others—Avoid illness from E. coli by practicing safe food handling, cooking meats thoroughly and avoiding unpasteurized—raw—milk and unpasteurized juices such as fresh apple cider.
NOROVIRUS
In the US, norovirus is the most common cause of illness from contaminated food or water—but food isn’t the only way people can get norovirus. It also spreads easily from person-to-person. Symptoms usually start within 1 or 2 days of eating the contaminated food, but may begin in as few as 12 hours. Projectile vomiting is often the first symptom, along with diarrhea and cramps. Headache, mild fever, and muscle aches may also occur. Protect yourself and others—To avoid norovirus, practice safe food handling and good handwashing.
SALMONELLA
Salmonella causes two kinds of illness: (1) Salmonellosis—usually characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, and fever, with symptoms generally lasting a couple of days and tapering off within a week. l Many kinds of food can become contaminated, from meats and eggs to fruits and vegetables, spices and nuts.
