Consumer Reports: Fruits and vegetables are common causes of food-borne illness October 17, 2011 In one study, raw fruit and vegetables caused more food-related illnesses… (PHOTOS FROM ISTOCKPHOTO.COM;…) You probably know that eating undercooked eggs or meat is risky, but you might not have thought that some nasty bacteria could lurk in jalapeno peppers. You wouldn’t be alone. Until recently, when the peppers were linked to a nationwide outbreak of food poisoning, many food-safety experts didn’t consider them a threat to anything but your taste buds. Tomatoes and cilantro have also been associated with food poisoning. In fact, from 1998 to 2008, salsa or guacamole, which often contain those ingredients, were linked to one in every 25 restaurant-associated outbreaks of food poisoning, more than double the rate during the previous decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are five important and perhaps lesser-known facts about food poisoning. Ads by Google ACLS Certification CouponCall Now for 15% Off Our Course. The ACLS Training Association™ ACLSrecertification It’s much more common than you think. “Imagine you are standing around with six friends,” says Nancy Donley, board president of Stop Foodborne Illness, a nonprofit group dedicated to food safety. “Then think that one of you is going to be stricken with food poisoning this year.” Most cases cause relatively mild symptoms that resolve within a couple of days, but some are more serious. And bacteria that strong immune systems handle relatively easily can be dangerous or even deadly to vulnerable populations, including young children and those with compromised immunity. Altogether, the CDC estimates that food-borne illness causes 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year in the United States. And reported cases represent only a fraction of the actual number because a vast majority of sufferers don’t go to a doctor or get an exact diagnosis. Fruit and vegetables can be as germ-laden as meat. “It’s wise to assume that all raw food from animals — meat, poultry and shellfish, as well as unpasteurized milk and eggs — harbors bacteria,” Donley says. Indeed, Consumer Reports’ own tests of a variety of fresh whole chickens in 2009 found that two-thirds were contaminated by campylobacter, salmonella or both, the leading bacterial causes of food-borne illness. What many people don’t realize is that raw fruit and vegetables can also be risky. In a study of more than 100,000 illnesses linked to food between 1990 and 2006, they caused more problems than poultry and beef combined. Buying organic produce will reduce your exposure to pesticides but not necessarily to bacterial contaminants. That “stomach flu” was likely something you ate. While some gastrointestinal viruses do cause diarrhea, the terrible trio of symptoms — fever, vomiting and diarrhea — is more characteristic of food poisoning. Symptoms usually kick in within two to six hours of eating contaminated food, but they might not start for days. Whether your symptoms are due to a virus or a mild case of food poisoning, treatment is the same: Rest and drink plenty of fluids. Children should be given an electrolyte drink such as Pedialyte to combat dehydration caused by diarrhea and vomiting. Ads by Google
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:55:09 +0000
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