Bhavika is a typical Indian home maker. She looks after her house, helps her children in their studies but does not look after her health. Like the traditional Indian women, she avoids wastage of food and generally finishes the left over meals.
As usual, when Bhavika was getting ready for lunch, she removed all the leftovers of the previous night kept in the fridge. Though, the curry smelt a little weird, she went ahead and ate the curry to avoid wastage of food. A couple of hours later, she started feeling sick. She had unbearable abdominal cramps accompanied by a vomiting sensation. She rushed to the doctor only to find out that it was a case of severe food poisoning.
Food borne illness, commonly called food poisoning is caused by eating foods that contain germs which are poisonous. Food which has been spoilt causes gastro intestinal disorders or food poisoning. Sometimes feeling sick from food poisoning shows up within few hours of eating the bad food while at times, a person may not feel sick until several days later. In most food borne illnesses, symptoms may last a few hours or even several days. The symptoms range from mild to serious and generally include
- Stomach cramps
- Nausea or upset stomach
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- And at times may lead to fever
Food can be contaminated at any of the stage that it passes through, at the super market, in your refrigerator, or even through your own hands. Time and temperature are two essential things to keep the food safe to eat. Read here a few simple ways which if put into practice can reduce your chances of getting food poisoning.
1. Maintain good hygiene
- Clean your hands thoroughly before and after preparing food especially while handling fish, meat and poultry to prevent the food from getting contaminated via your own hands.
- Wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet or changing the baby’s diaper.
- Wash fruits and vegetables properly with clean water to get rid of germs and small worms that may be present on them.
- Clean utensils, chopping board and other surfaces with hot soapy water as bacteria can be left behind even after washing the board.
- Avoid cross contamination by using separate plates and chopping boards for raw meat as the germs from the utensils may infect other vegetarian food.
2. Heat the food properly
- Eat well cooked food. Raw and half cooked food may contain germs. Cook gravies, soups, eggs till they are nicely boiled to destroy that bacteria or other contaminants present in it.
- A minimum temperature of around 74 degree Celsius is required to prevent germs from contaminating cooked food. Reheat leftovers at this temperature to prevent food poisoning.
- Avoid having unboiled milk and unpasteurized dairy products as these products have a higher risk of containing harmful bacteria
3. Refrigerate the food instantly
- Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contamination and reduce the risk of food poisoning.
- After cooking the food, you should refrigerate it within two hours as bacteria multiply quickly at room temperature.
- Do not refrigerate left over’s for more than 3 days.
- Freeze poultry, fish, meat, shell fish within two days of purchase.
4. Defrost well
- If you want to defrost the food in the refrigerator, keep it tightly wrapped so that it does not defrost and drip all over the fridge and contaminate the other food items kept inside the refrigerator.
- You can also place the sealed package under running water to defrost it. Cook the foods item immediately after defrosting.
- Do not thaw meat by placing in the open air to defrost as it may be a breeding ground for germs.
5. Eat freshly prepared home cooked food
- Always eat freshly prepared home cooked food and avoid eating from road side eateries as the water that they use for cooking may not be clean.
- Never taste or smell the food to ascertain whether it is spoilt. The appearance of fungus or molds is not the only factor to decide that the food is spoilt.
- While cooking ready- to eat –meals always check for the expiry date. Don’t give in the urge of saving money as it could cost you your health.
It is rightly said ‘prevention is better than cure’. Food poisoning is a preventable tragedy. It is important to follow these simple safety measures and protect yourself and your family from food borne diseases.
