How To Stay Away From Foodborne Illness?

What is Foodborne Illness?

Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and colloquially named food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as toxins such as poisonous mushrooms and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.1 of 6 people in the US get foodborne illness every year.

Food Safety is Everyone’s Business!

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent illness. This includes a set of laws that should be followed to stay away from potentially severe health hazards.

Based on a previous report, nearly one in ten people on the earth(about 600 million people) suffering from ill and 420,000 die after eating food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and chemical substances. According to my survey among people from several countries,20% of my participants tried wild animal which is certainly not safe.Wild animals may carry deadly virus such as Ebola,SARS,COVID-19,MBGV,etc.
Unsafe food is a huge barrier for developing countries to develop because it causes around 95 billion USD in productivity-related to illness, disability, and premature death experienced by workers.

Food safety:Choosing Food

When choosing food in supermarkets, only buy food from reputable from resource that obey the food laws of where you are.For example, in China never buy “3 without” food(food without date in produced, certificate of qualification and manufacturer.)If available, sanitized your hand at the entrance of the store.Gather non-perishable food first, then refrigerated or frozen food.And put vegetables and fruits on the top of other foods. Only buy pasteurized juice in refrigerater.Do not buy food with dented, swollen or leaking cans.Do not buy foods with damaged packaging. Do not buy takeaway food which is not hot anymore.If go to the vegetable market or farmer market, go early in the morning to avoid buying food which has been exposed to the air the whole day.

Food safety:Handling Foods

When it comes to food safety during handling foods, I’ll divide the topic into 4 parts:clean, separate, cook and chill.

How to keep food safety in your kitchen?

• Clean:
  Wash your hand before eating or handling food. Pathogens live in everywhere your kitchen, including your hand. So food safety in handling food begins by washing your hands carefully especially during food preparation, after touching your pets, using the bathroom, blowing your nose, handling garbage, uncooked meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. Refer to the previous studies, hand washing will reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Washing your hand in running water with soap for at least 20 seconds, most bacterias on your hand will be washed away.
  -Separate:
  To prevent cross-contamination, ready-to-eat should be separated from raw meats and eggs. Meat should be kept in individual bags to prevent their juices pollute instant food.
  
  

• Cook
  Proper cooking is believed to be the biggest barrier against foodborne illness. Many causative agents will be killed during the process of heating. So I’ll say a cooking thermometer is an ideal tool preventing you from foodborne. That is different from food to food. The suitable temperature for beef is between 45 Celsius degree and 50 Celsius degree(120 Fahrenheit and 125 Fahrenheit) while that for pork should be at least 65 Celsius degree(145 Fahrenheit). Always use clean kitchen wares to cook. Knives, cutting board, and other kitchen wares should be cleaned with hot soapy water after contact with raw eggs and meats. Use one cutting board for fresh produce and another one for raw meats if possible. When it comes to seafood, undercooked or raw fish and shellfish or food contain them are not recommended. For those who want sashimi, some kind of sushi, and ceviche, FDA advises them to consume that food that was frozen properly to cut the risk of foodborne illness.

• Chill
  Before chilling hot food, you are advised to cool down it first. Because its heat might raise the temperature of the freezer, leading to an informal chilling. And do not crowd your refrigerator, it works most effectively with perfect air circulation. The refrigerator will not kill any pathogens, but it keeps them in an inactive situation.40F-160F is the danger zone for bacteria growth.

How to stay away from foodborne illness

Food Safety:Prepare Food

Ingredients and food must be washed before being eaten or cooked. Because many parasite traces and pesticide residues can be washed away. After cutting meat, always wash your knife and cutting board. Because raw meat always carries pathogens original from animals’ excreta. Base on the FDA’s advice, cutting boards can be sanitized by a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach in 1 gallon of water. Keep the meat, poultry, and their juice away from other food to prevent cross-contaminated.

Food Safety:Store Food

Pay attention to the time. The time limitation of different food is different.(see the chart)The cooler the temperature is, the longer food can be stored. The storage area should be dry(<15% humidity) and in a well air-circulated to prevent condensation of moisture on package material. The area for insects to enter should be limited when a storage area being built. Food should be stored in a food-grade container which prevents deadly, not eatable chemicals and does not contain the not eatable chemicals.

Reference List:
1.Charlotte P. Brennand,Deloy G. Hendricks,Food Storage in the Home.UtahState University Extension Electronic Publishing,19,8-13,Available online:https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1640&context=extension_histall[Access on:5 December 2020]
2.Elsie,G.,(2017),How to Make Sure Food is Safe to Eat,January 20,2017[online].Available from:Onehowto[Accessed 3 December,2020]
3.Food safety Argumentative Essay. (2016, Aug 02). Retrieved from
https://phdessay.com/food-safety/
4.Pope,J.&S.Nizielski.Scientific American Nutrition for a Changing World.[M].W. H. Freeman,America,2018:544-545.
5.Vanessa,G.,(2020),How to Safety Freeze, Thaw,and Reheat Food,October 08,2020[online],Available from allrecipes[Accessed 5 December,2020]
6.“Why Is It Important to Wash Vegetables Before Eating Them?” Livestrong.com. Aug. 16,2013. Web. Feb. 15, 2014.