Food Poisoning

   What is Food Poisoning?

Food Poisoning is your body's reaction to eating or drinking contaminated food. The contaminated food causes your body to feel unwell. These reactions could be mild to severe and can happen quickly within 30 minutes or over a couple of days.

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   What are the Causes?

Food poisoning is caused by Infective Agents such as viruses, bacteria and parasites or by Toxic Agents such as poisonous mushrooms, improperly prepared food and pesticides on fruits and vegetables.

Poor sanitation or poor food preparation such as improper hand-washing, personal infectious diseases and poor food storage lead to poisoning such as:

• Salmonellae - bacteria from uncooked food such as eggs, poultry, dairy products and seafood.
• Campylobacter - bacteria from raw poultry, raw milk, and water contaminated by animal feces.
• Escherichia coli (E coli) - bacteria from eating raw or uncooked hamburger or contaminated well water.
• Shigella (traveller's diarrhea) - bacteria from water contaminated polluted with human wastes.
• Vibrio cholera - bacteria from infected, undercooked or raw seafood.
• Pesticides - toxins from unwashed fruits and vegetables contaminated with pesticides.

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   What are the Signs and Symptoms?

Mild to severe symptoms may include one or a combination of the following signs and symptoms:  Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever, chills, bloody stools, dehydration, nerve damage such as slurred speech, muscle weakness, double vision, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, dizziness, unconsciousness, swollen abdomen, etc.

These may develop rapidly or (within half an hour) or slowly (days to weeks). It all depends on the type of contaminants that have entered your body.

   Do I need to call 9-1-1?

Usually food poisoning is not serious and can be over in 24-48 hours. However please here are suggestions for certain signs and symptoms:

• Visit a doctor if nausea, vomiting or diarrhea lasts for more than two days. Young children under 3 years should be taken to a doctor if they experience fever with other signs and symptoms.
• Call 9-1-1 if there is unconsciousness, dizziness, light-headedness, vision problems, sharp pains (10-15 min long), cramps (10-15 min long), vomiting blood, stomach swelling, skin turning yellow or high fever (38C or more)

   How can I prevent Food poisoning?

Food handling:

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw meat and poultry.
• Sanitize cutting boards and preparation surfaces often (teaspoon of bleach to a gallon of water)
• Cook to proper temperatures and ensure safe food storage.

Food storage:

• Colder than 4C or warmer than 32C
• Never leave food out for more than two hours (or 1 hour if temperature is above 32C)
• Cooked leftovers should be used within 4 days

Cooking tips:

• Use a meat thermometer. Ground meats or fresh pork should be cooked to 71C, turkey should be cooked to 82C in the thigh and 77C in the breast).
• Store food in cool temperatures below 4C.

   Special Occasions?

Watch out for the leftover meat! Do not leave it at room temperature for too long. Bacteria grow at an alarming rate - the population doubles every 20 minutes.

Take a Standard First Aid course from FAST Rescue and learn about the prevention and treatment of other forms of poisoning.

Can you come to my location to train? Absolutely, we do on-site training for groups of 8 or more.  On-site courses have a distinct advantage in the sense that we can focus the training to fit your particular needs. Contact us for further information.

Note: This information is offered as information only and is designed to promote Health & Safety in the workplace and the community.  It is subject to change.