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Preventing Foodborne Illness
A foodborne illness is a disease that is transmitted to
humans by food.
 Food Infection – the microorganism itself grows inside
your body and is the main source of your symptoms
 Most common - Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria,
Norwalk, Trichinosis
 Food Intoxication – a chemical or natural toxin (often
a by product of the bacteria present in food) causes
your symptoms or illness.
 Most common – Staphylococcus Aureus, Escherichia
coli 0157, Clostridium Perfringens and Clostridium
Botulinum
 Moist, high-protein, and/or low acid foods are potentially
dangerous.
 High protein foods consist of milk or milk products, eggs,
meats, poultry, fish, shellfish, shrimp, lobster, crab.
 Potatoes, tofu and other soy protein foods, raw seed
sprouts such as alfalfa or bean sprouts, green leafy
vegetables, berries and tomatoes also pose a hazard.
 These foods can support rapid growth of infectious or
disease-causing microorganisms.
 Everyone, but infants, young children, pregnant
women, the elderly, and people who are chronically ill
have a greater risk of developing a foodborne illness
because their immune systems may not be able to fight
off the bacteria and viruses that cause the illness.
 Those at greater risk should avoid consuming
potentially hazardous foods that are raw or not fully
cooked.
 Food becomes hazardous by contamination.
Contamination is the unintended presence of harmful
substances or microorganisms in food. Food can
become contaminated from chemical, physical or
biological sources.
 Chemical hazards include substances such as cleaning
solutions and sanitizers.
 Physical hazards are foreign particles, like glass, metal,
or fingernails.
 Biological hazards come mainly from microorganisms
including bacteria, viruses and parasites.
 Cross-contamination is the transportation of harmful substances
to food by:
 Hands that touch raw foods, such as chicken, then touch food that
will not be cooked, like salad ingredients.
 Surfaces, like cutting boards or cleaning cloths, that touch raw
foods, are not cleaned and sanitized, then touch ready-to-eat food.
 Raw or contaminated foods that touch or drip fluids on cooked or
ready-to-eat foods.
 Microorganisms are everywhere. You may not see,
taste, or smell them, but they hide on your body, in the
air, on kitchen counters and utensils, and in food. The
main microorganisms are viruses, parasites, fungi and
bacteria.
 Viruses are the tiniest, and probably the simplest, form of
life.
 They are not able to reproduce outside a living cell yet can
survive for a period of time even on inanimate objects, such
as door handles, pencils, tabletops, backpacks, etc.
 Some viruses are extremely resistant to heat and cold.
 The food is mainly a transportation device to get from
one host to another.
 Hepatitis A and norovirus have been identified as the
cause of many foodborne illness outbreaks.
• Parasites need to live on or in a host to survive.
• Examples of parasites that may contaminate food or
water are Trichinella spiralis (trichinosis) that affects
pork and Anisakis roundworm that affects fish.
 Fungi can be microscopic or as big as a giant mushroom.
 Fungi are found in the air, soil, plants, animals, water, and
some food.
 Molds and yeast are fungi. Molds may produce dangerous
toxins in food. Yeast development in foods will affect
quality.
 Of all the microorganisms, bacteria are the greatest
threat to food safety.
 Bacteria are single-celled, living organisms that can
grow quickly at favorable temperatures.
 Some bacteria are infectious disease-causing agents called
pathogens, that use the nutrients found in potentially
hazardous foods to multiply.
 Some bacteria are not infectious on their own, but when
they multiply in potentially hazardous food, they eject
toxins that poison humans when the food is eaten.
 Under the right conditions, bacteria can double every
10 to 30 minutes. A single bacterium will double with
each division—two become four, four become eight,
and so on. A single cell can become billions in 10 to 12
hours.
 Some bacteria are useful. We use them to make foods
like cheese, buttermilk, sauerkraut, pickles, and
yogurt.
 Food handling practices are risky when they allow
harmful bacteria to contaminate and grow in food.
 If you touch a food during preparation, you may
transfer several thousand bacteria to its surface.
 Bacteria grow fastest in the temperature range between
40°F and 140°F
 This is known as the Temperature Danger Zone.
 Bacteria are found on the hair, skin, mouth, nose and
in the throat of healthy people.
 According to one estimate, nearly 50 percent of
healthy food handlers carry disease agents that can be
transmitted by food.
 The most important tool you have to prevent foodborne
illness is good personal hygiene.
 Personal hygiene is the way a person maintains their
health, appearance and cleanliness.
 A cough or sneeze can transmit thousands of
microorganisms that may cause disease.
 Your hands can be the most potentially dangerous
serving equipment you use.
 Scratching your scalp, running your fingers through
your hair, or touching a pimple can cause the
transmission of pathogenic microorganisms into food.
 Symptoms of foodborne illnesses may take hours or
even days to appear.
 Most common symptoms include: abdominal cramps,
headache, vomiting, diarrhea (may be bloody), fever,
and in some cases death.
 Since the symptoms are so similar to the flu, some
people may not realize they have a foodborne illness.
• Foodborne illnesses are caused by agents that enter the body through
the ingestion of food.
 Every person is at risk of foodborne illness.
 May be serious for very young, very old, people with long term illness
 Reaction may occur in a few hours or up to several days after exposure
 Foodborne Illnesses can be preventable
Symptoms
 Abdominal cramps, headache, vomiting, diarrhea (may be bloody),
fever, death.