Recognize Foods That Often Cause Poisoning

Food poisoning results from eating food contaminated with germs or poisons. Although the cause can be any food, but there are several types of food that often causes poisoning. Food poisoning is a health disorder caused by food contaminated with germs or harmful substances. Contamination can occur during processing, storage, and presentation. Based on data from the Food Standards Agency, there are 900,000 cases of food poisoning every year.

Foods that Often Cause Poisoning

Symptoms of food poisoning can include nausea, vomiting, watery or bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps, fever, fatigue, muscle aches, and headaches. These complaints can appear several hours, days, or weeks after food is consumed, and can last for several hours to several days. The most common causes of food poisoning are bacteria, viruses, and parasites that emit toxins and contaminate food. To be more careful, we need to know several types of food that often cause poisoning, namely:

1. Poultry meat and eggs

Consuming undercooked chicken or duck meat and eggs can increase the risk of food poisoning. Bacteria that are widely found in poultry are Campylobacter and Salmonella. This bacterium is often found in intestines and feathers of birds.

2. Red meat

Meat sold on the market vulnerable to contain bacteria, such as E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and Vibrio. While processed foods, such as ham, bacon, and sausages, are prone to contain Listeria and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The most contamination occurs in pork, beef, buffalo, and goats. Pollution can occur during the process of slaughtering animals, storage in stores, until processing.

3. Non-pasteurized milk

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk at a certain temperature, so it can kill harmful bacteria. When you consume milk that has not been pasteurized, your risk for poisoning will be greater. Cases of raw milk poisoning have been reported in many children and adolescents.

4. Seafood or seafood

Seafood has a risk of containing histamine, which is one of the poisons produced by bacteria in the body of fish or shellfish that are not fresh. In addition, you also need to be careful of the mercury content in seafood dishes, especially if you consume fish or shellfish from these heavy metal-contaminated waters.

5. Vegetables and fruits

When planted, vegetables and fruits are often exposed to pesticides that are used to prevent the growth of plant pests, such as insects and parasites. If vegetables and fruit are not washed thoroughly, pesticides can be swallowed and endanger health. In addition, vegetables and fruits can contain Salmonella and E. coli bacteria. This can happen if vegetables or fruit are planted in areas contaminated with animal or human feces.

Tips for Choosing, Cleaning and Processing Food

To reduce the risk of food poisoning, wash food ingredients thoroughly and thoroughly cook. Good food processing starts from the selection, storage of food according to its type, until the cooking process.

1. Choose

Don't buy groceries that look doubtful. Especially if the food has been stored at room temperature for too long, because there is a possibility it has been contaminated by germs. Choose foods that are cooked or have gone through a pasteurization process, especially for dairy products, juices, and eggs.

2. Clean up

Not only washing food ingredients cleanly, we also need to wash hands and cooking utensils before processing food. Use soap and running water, or warm water if possible.

3. Separating

To prevent cross-contamination between foods, always separate cooked and raw foods. Store raw foods, such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood, separately from other foods. Meanwhile, when processing it, do not use the same cutting board and knife for vegetables and meat.

4. Cooking

Cook the meat or eggs until they are completely cooked at the right temperature. This method effectively kills harmful germs that are in raw foods. If necessary, use a food thermometer that can measure the temperature inside the food, to make sure the food is fully cooked.

5. Saving

If the food will not be cooked or eaten, keep it in the refrigerator. If you want to store cooked food outside the cooling cupboard or at room temperature, don't take more than 2 hours. When you want to eat foods that often cause poisoning, you need to be more careful in choosing and processing them. If you experience symptoms of food poisoning, see your doctor immediately for treatment.