Preventing Food Poisoning: Safety Measures and Symptoms

Unfortunately, few people think about food poisoning. Instead, everyone believes that the luck is on his or her side and the chances to get infected are rather lower. However, it is recommended not to underestimate the risks. By acting like this, an individual may put his or her life in jeopardy. There is a variety of ways of how to prevent food intoxication. Each individual should learn them and never forget to keep oneself and close people safe. Those people who have animal companions at home should be extremely careful. However, others also should not relax because harmful microorganisms cannot wait to get into a person’s organism and make it suffer. Food poisoning should be prevented because it leads to such negative consequences as nausea, vomiting, pain, dizziness, high temperature, infecting other people, and, in some cases, death.

While cooking, a person should be careful with the products of the animal origin. The examples of such products are meat, eggs, and dairy food. When this food is raw, the person should not allow the pieces of it to get into other products. It is also wrong to let these products or food cooked with their usage stay in a room for a long time. The faster the person puts them into the fridge, the safer he or she will be. When the individual is frying meat, he or she should check it with a knife from time to time to assure there is no visible blood. Those people who prefer a raw steak should either learn the technology of cooking it in the right way or better try it elsewhere. For beginners, such a device as a thermometer will become rather essential in the kitchen. Some people state that raw eggs are healthy, especially for voice. Maybe, they are; but it is better to think carefully before eating it raw. The person should decide what is prior to him or her: good health or wonderful voice. When the individual purchases meat and eggs, it is advisable to read a sign on the package to be sure it is still fit for human consumption. It is clear that most individuals are in a hurry when they go shopping. Searching for this information takes time. Nevertheless, it is significant because people that work at supermarkets do not always manage to take away spoiled goods in time. It happens because their variety is vast. If the expiration date is close, the individual should choose something else because, for example, one person will not probably eat a dozen of eggs in two days. Before cooking, the individual should read the sign on the package again. When the person purchases dairy foods, he or she should choose a qualitative, well-known, and, most importantly, certified food. Otherwise, there is a chance that the producer has not ensured the proper pasteurization of this product. This mistake may lead to the contamination with Campylobacter, i.e. a bacterium that will bring unpleasant feelings to the individual for two to five days. Listeria may also be present in such milk; and its bad effects will last for nine to forty-eight hours.

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The person should do the same with fish. People who like sushi should be extremely careful because this dish is very dangerous. The expiration date of this meal is no more than several hours. Even if the person eats sushi in a good restaurant, it is still preferable to ask a chef to fry the fish unless this individual is in Japan. Taking into account a big number of orders, the employees of a restaurant may cheat and freeze the prepared sushi and serve a dish that is not fresh. Beside sushi, the person should be careful when he or she chooses a place to eat anything, “A new study finds that you twice as likely to get food poisoning dining out compared to eating in” (Preidt n. p.). As for shellfish, its expiration date is even shorter than that of fish. It is not advisable to order takeouts containing raw prawns at all. The dish will be spoiled before it gets to the individual. In restaurants, if people receive the meal that contains either meat or eggs that turn to be undercooked, they should ask a waiter to replace it with a properly cooked one. Moreover, it is advisable to demand a clean plate and flatware.

When dealing with raw products of the animal origin, the person should learn several important rules. Firstly, it is crucial to wash hands with soap, if possible, with the antibacterial one. Secondly, the person should do the same with a knife and a chopping board. It is advisable to use hot or at least warm water, but in none case cold. Chopping boards made of wood are not advisable to use because it is more difficult to clean them. There are also some rules for the process of thawing products. First of all, the individual should not thaw products in the kitchen or elsewhere. Instead, it is advisable to do it in a fridge. After this process, the person should never thaw this product again or it will get spoiled. It is significant to fix the temperature in the fridge and the deepfreeze at a certain level: forty and zero degrees Fahrenheit accordingly.

Although it may sound too trivial, but people should not forget to wash fruit or vegetables before consuming. It is connected with raw products, of course. Companies that grow these goods often use fertilizers and poison being dangerous for human health. Moreover, if an apple looks rather artificial and is not brown, then someone may have waxed its rind. In this case, it is important to wash it for longer, or even rinse it with the boiling-hot water. Parents should not leave dirty fruit and vegetables in the places where little children can reach them. A consumer should be aware of the fact that juice and cider must undergo pasteurization as well. Juice that is sold in sealed containers has undergone this process though it is not always mentioned on the container. It is significant to be careful with home-canned products. If the person does not know the technology, it is better to avoid doing it not to endanger the health of those who will consume this food. Improper-canned food may contain Clostridium botulinum. It is a bacterium that will make the individual suffer from twelve to seventy-two hours.

If the person already has any symptoms of food poisoning, especially diarrhea or vomiting, then it is forbidden to be engaged in cooking for other individuals. This rule is mostly connected with cooking for individuals whose immune system is not very strong. It may include such categories as, for example, children, pregnant women, and the old ones. In this case, these categories of people are more likely to catch an infection. Individuals, whose immune system is not so strong, should also adhere to certain rules to be safe. For example, soft ripened cheese is not advisable. Among this kind of cheese are feta, Camembert, Mexican-style, Brie, and blue-veined cheese. Other kinds of cheese are not dangerous. Breastfeeding is better for babies, “Mother’s milk is the safest food for young infants. Breastfeeding may prevent many food-borne illnesses and other health problems” (“Food Poisoning Prevention” 1).

In general, after each time when the individual goes out, washing hands using the soap is the first thing to do after he or she has arrived home. Even if it seems for this person that he or she has touched nothing, it is better to follow this rule. The chance to get infection decreases. Of course, this rule is default before every eating occasion. If the individual forgets to wash hands, then he or she can be infected by Salmonella. These bacteria may lead to diarrhea. Moreover, if the person has a child, then washing hands often is crucial not only for the safety of the kid. This process makes him or her learn that it washing hands is a must.

Beside the methods to prevent this dangerous situation, it is significant to mention its symptoms. Although death is the utmost result of food poisoning, other symptoms are also rather unpleasant. In most cases, such individual has a diarrhea that can be either watery or bloody. This infection is often followed by either nausea or vomiting or even both. The person can also have a fever and suffer from pain in an area of stomach. Sometimes the individual’s sight becomes worse temporarily, he or she may feel rather weak, lightheaded, thirsty, and dizzy. However, the symptoms will be different for each source of poisoning. After the contamination, symptoms can start in several hours. However, in some cases, it will take days or several weeks for them to begin. In some cases, the person should be treated immediately. Otherwise, there is a possibility that some of organs will be damaged. It happens when the food poisoning is not regular, but toxic or even chemical. There is a way to recognize this poisoning: “Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, dizziness, tearing in the eyes, excessive salivation, mental confusion, and stomach pain, beginning about 30 minutes after eating contaminated food” (“Understanding Food Poisoning” n. p.).

To conclude, if not prevented, food intoxication may endanger the individual’s health by causing problems with his or her intestine, digestion, and the general state of health and even threaten the life. To avoid it, the individual should always keep to certain rules and be careful when he or she chooses a restaurant or other public place to eat in. The person should not forget that even one mistake during cooking may be disastrous. The most basic, but significant rule is to wash hands using the soap as often as possible.

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