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Salmonella & Food Poisoning
Learn the Stats, Signs, Symptoms, Sources, and Means to Prevent The Most Common Food Poisoning Microorganism
If you are any bit involved in the food industry or you just read or watch the news sometimes, you would have heard about the ever popular and notorious Salmonella bacteria and its connection with food poisoning. It is also very possible that you have been a victim of this disease.
Salmonella is actually one of the oldest known sources of food borne illness going back over 100 years. It was discovered by an American scientist, Dr. Daniel E. Salmon.
Salmonella is a microscopic single cell that passes from the feces of people or animals to other people or animals. It makes the news fairly regularly, even in the U.S., because it is the most common reported foodborne bacterial related infection.
What makes Salmonella more dangerous and so common is that it can literally take very few cells to make you sick.
Salmonella Background and Stats in the U.S.
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The Center for Disease control has estimated that an astounding 1.4 million cases of Salmonella caused food poisoning occur each year.
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In the United States alone around 600 people die from this form of food poisoning annually. About 31 percent of all food-related deaths each year can be attributed to Salmonella infection.
Sources of Salmonellosis (the medical term or condition caused by a Salmonella infection)
Consuming foods contaminated with animal feces. This is the bottom line for this type of bacteria. Now, how this happens, or the ways this can happen are great and varied. Why this still occurs in our high tech society is a much bigger question that I hope to address in other articles.
Cases of Salmonellosis are usually related to some raw food product. Either the raw or partially cooked product was consumed directly or was the indirect source of the contamination of a cooked or ready-to-eat product. Statistics vary on the percentage of contamination, but it is best to assume that raw poultry, beef, eggs or egg based products, milk, shellfish and smoked fish could very possibly be contaminated with Salmonella.
Here are the two main methods for this contamination to occur:
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Cross-Contamination – Juices from raw product (meats, poultry or seafoods) come in contact with ready-to-eat foods, such as salads or already cooked foods ready to serve. This happens by using the same utensils, cutting boards, plates, platters or hands for the raw product without thorough washing and/or sanitizing in-between.
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Consuming raw or partially cooked naturally hazardous foods. This includes beef (raw or rare hamburgers), poultry, egg or egg based dishes (see a list of raw egg based dishes here), seafoods (shellfish and finfish), unpasteurized dairy products (including cheese products from unknown sources – someone’s home or garage). I know there are those who can not stay away from certain popular raw seafoods and even some egg dishes. You are probably already aware (but just in case you aren’t) that you are at greater risk of contracting not just Salmonella, but a number of other dangerous microorganisms.
Signs & Sypmtoms
Salmonella symptoms generally appear within 8 -12 hours of consuming the contaminated source and flow in the following order:
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Abdominal pain including nausea and stomach cramps
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Diarrhea and Vomiting
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Chills, headache and dehydration
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It may take 4 to 7 days for symptoms to disappear and feel human again. Most of the time normal healthy adults can recover without ever seeing a doctor. If though an infant, child, elderly person, pregnant woman, or an already ill person with weakened immune system (such as cancer, kidney disease, diabetes etc.) shows any of these signs, do not hesitate to get them to a doctor or the local emergency center ASAP. As noted above Salmonella can and does kill hundreds of people in the U.S. every year. This of course does not mean you shouldn’t call or go in to see your doctor. Depending on how sever or long these symptoms are affecting you, the doctor may prescribe or advise some additional things for you to do, i.e. bed rest, liquids to take, off the shelf medicines, etc. |
Prevention – Steering Clear
Prevention is both easy and difficult. It’s easy for those situations that you have some control over, such as in your own kitchen. It can be more difficult (but not impossible) for eating out at restaurants, delis, catered events, private parties, fairs carnivals etc. (To see more information on avoiding food poisoning hazards while dining out click on Signs of a Safe Restaurant, Restaurant Personal Hygiene, and Restaurant Food).
To be sure, most cases of Salmonella foodborne illnesses (and most foodborne bacteria related illnesses) can be prevented by following four basic principles:
(1) Controlling the initial number of bacteria present. This is done throughout the processing cycle of a food product – from the processing plant to your refrigerator or dinner table.
(2) Preventing the small number from growing. Even though it can take very few Salmonella cells to get you sick, the rule still applies that the more cells present the more likely you will experience full blown symptoms. Preventing these cells from growing means monitoring the temperatures of the common potentially hazardous food sources of Salmonella. Assure they are stored and processed so as to minimize the time the food must spend in what is known as the food temperature danger zone—between 41° and 135° Fahrenheit (no more than 2 hours is the best rule). This also means getting a good air temperature thermometer for your refrigerator and setting it so the reading stays at 40°. Place it in the warmest part, usually front and center to get the most accurate reading.
(3) Destroying the bacteria by proper cooking or heating. This means not consuming raw or partially cooked hazardous foods – including again, raw seafood, partially cooked or rare hamburger, partially cooked eggs or egg sauces, and unpasteurized dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.).
(4) Avoiding re-contamination or cross contamination. Be aware of what you are doing in your kitchen and learn what your local restaurant, deli, and meat and seafood market are doing to minimize this dangerous practice (see my article on Poor Personal Hygiene Practices in a Restaurant.)
One last ounce of prevention is to stay away from foods that are from an unknown or questionable source. This means foods that do not have a label or a questionable label. This includes cheese and other dairy products, seafoods, meats as well as ready-to-eat foods. You can do this very simply by purchasing only from licensed and inspected vendors (stay away from street vendors both in the U.S and abroad).
REFERENCES
1. United States Department of Agriculture – Food Safety and Inspection Service “Salmonella Questions and Answers” http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Salmonella_Questions_&_Answers/index.asp
2. United States Centers for Disease Control “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States”
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol5no5/mead.htm
Michael Doom worked as a Registered
Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) for Los Angeles
County for more than 21 years. For most of these years he worked as a
field inspector and Supervising Senior REHS in the retail
food inspection programs. His experience within Los Angeles
County has taken him to some of the smallest “mom and pop”
restaurants and markets in the poorest areas of south Los
Angeles, as well as to the largest facilities and affluent
areas on the west side. He has literally conducted thousands
of inspections of numerous types of restaurants, food
markets, warehouses, events, and more; educated hundreds, if
not more than a thousand, food facility owners, managers and
employees on food sanitation and
food safety, and how to
prevent food poisoning hazards;
has supervised more than 50 field inspectors that were
responsible for an inventory of food facilities larger than
many U.S. states.
Mr. Doom has a B.S. in Biology from
Loyola Marymount University, an REHS with the state of
California, holds a Project Management Professional (PMP®)
credential from the Project Management Institute, and a
Masters Certificate in Project Management from George
Washington University. Mr. Doom continuously works to expand his knowledge
and experience in the subject of food safety, sanitation and
food poisoning prevention.
He can be reached at
Mike@foodpoisoningprevention.com
About the Author