Food Poisoning Symptoms, How to Prevent Food Poisoning

Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.

Food poisoning has become a way of life for those that enjoy the taste of new types of food. The good chances of getting indigestion does not prevent them from searching for exotic restaurants where they can devour large quantities of strange and delicious food. Until severe food poisoning occurs and a hospital stay is had, the experimental eater will continue playing roulette with new types of food.

These can vary, depending on the cause but most common symptoms are vomiting„ abdominal pain and diarrhea. However symptoms may also include fevers and chills, be as non descript as weakness and exhaustion. or as tangible as bloody stools, dehydration and muscle aches.

In most cases, food poisoning is a one-off thing. Someone left the meat out of the fridge for too long. The food was contaminated during processing. One of the ingredients went bad, and was added to the dish unnoticed. There are many causes for food spoilage, but they are usually not consistent. In other words, don’t expect that since you got food poisoning from the left-overs last week, that you will get sick every time you eat left-overs.

Although food poisoning is such a complex problem, there are many means by which people can prevent it. When shopping, they can avoid purchasing packages that appear open or torn, waiting until the end of their shopping trip to buy frozen or cold items and taking them home immediately, and avoiding contact between raw foods (like meat) and other foods. Furthermore, cleanliness is extremely important. After going to the bathroom, it is important wash hands. Also, before working with uncooked foods, it is crucial to wash hands before and after handling them. Also, people can take a number of steps when actually cooking their food to avoid food poisoning. When cooking meat, they should use a meat thermometer to measure the temperature of the meat. Also, eating leftovers within four days is a good precaution. Finally, not leaving food out for more than two hours also helps ensure that it does not spoil.

Always wash your hands and everything else that comes in contact with food. This includes utensils, cutting boards, countertops, table ware, and cook ware. Wash hands with warm water for at least 20 seconds before handling food, after handling uncooked meat/produce and wash between preparing each type of food. Separate raw foods from other kinds of food and use a separate cutting board for meat and vegetables. Do not use the same utensils or dish ware with uncooked or other foods. Keep it out of the danger zone (40 F and 140F) by cooking it thoroughly.

Liquid dairy products like milk and crème should always be pasteurized or treated in a way to stop outbreaks of staphylococcus infections that can add to the growth of bacteria in raw milk before it is heat treated. This can also apply to cheese and ice cream. Canned meats have also been believed to caused outbreaks of staphylococcus infections so it is important to make sure that they are sealed properly and that they are sterilized right.