Food Poisoning: Did You Cause It Unknowingly

Food poisoning is simply an illness that is caused by consuming food that has been contaminated by bacteria or even viruses. 

It can have extremely severe signs and symptoms which can quickly deteriorate an individual’s nutritional status. 

As much as it may not get to a serious state for most people, it should definitely send you to your doctor very fast when you start to develop the following symptoms :

1. Nausea
2. Vomiting
3. Diarrhoea
4. Extreme abdominal pains.
5. General body malaise.
6. Fever.

Why was the food poisoning your fault?

Food gets contaminated at the different stages of production, processing, preparation, cooking, and even storage. 

So obviously if you were involved at any stages above that surely explains a lot. Here are some of the instances when food poisoning was your fault:

1. Undercooking foods

You were probably in a rush, too hungry or you might not have read the recipe well. 

Undercooked food is a good home for so many bacteria, and therefore consuming undercooked food is very dangerous as you are actually taking in so many bacteria. 

So maybe be patient enough next time, and cook meat to temperatures enough to destroy most harmful substances.

2. Ignoring expiry dates

Ignoring expiry dates is like a suicide mission, you are literally taking in spoilt food. It is not safe in so many ways.

There’s no grace period for expired food.

Eat food before it gets expired or rather if it’s already expired, get rid of it.

3. Cross Contamination

In my knowledge of meal preparation, which I’m gladly going to share with you, vegetables and meats/poultry should never be prepared in the same place at the same time. 

That is serious cross-contamination. For example, preparing a salad and cutting meat at the same time is unacceptable, because the salad would comfortably accommodate the bacteria from meat, you know meats are to watch out for. Prepare these foods at different times, or preferably at different stations.

4. Hand washing

Sounds silly but the truth be said, so many times we grab food even without thinking about hand washing, but maybe we should remind each other that that’s direct contamination, we should be a little keen on the little things that count.

If we can prevent a problem, it’s better than seeking a cure.

Foods to watch out for:

1. Meats/poultry – Raw
2. Fish
3. Eggs
4. Milk/milk products

Important to NOTE:

1. Read labels.
2. Practice hygiene measures.
3. Cook food well.

Don’t poison yourself next time

Embrace a Healthy Lifestyle.