National Food Safety Education Month: 4 Things You May Not Have Known About Food Poisoning, But Should

Food poisoning — more accurately called foodborne illness — can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, and even chemicals. As whatever's behind the food poisoning passes through your digestive tract, it's going to cause the unpleasant symptoms most of us are already familiar with. 

The good news is that the symptoms of food poisoning typically go away as quickly as it arrived, lasting anywhere from just a few hours to a few days. 

Most people who get food poisoning — and a shockingly high 48 million people do every year, in the United States alone — get better all by themselves, without ever even seeing a doctor. Those who do see a doctor will often not even be tested, by diagnosed based on symptoms alone, and then sent packing with the instruction to keep hydrated and take over-the-counter meds to manage their fever and discomfort. 

Food poisoning is, for most people, nothing more than a nuisance. So why do we need Food Safety Education Month? 

Practicing responsible food safety protocols helps protect you, and everyone — including, likely, people belonging to the most vulnerable groups — around you. That's why we need Food Safety Education Month. 

Which of these key facts about food poisoning were you unaware of?

1. Anyone can fall victim to food poisoning, but some groups of people are more vulnerable

Anyone can eat, or indeed drink, something that "doesn't agree with them", but some groups of people are both more likely to fall victim to certain types of food poisoning, and at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill:

• Older adults over the age of 65 have less effective immune systems, making them less able to fight food poisoning off. More than half of older adults who have E. Coli, Listeria, Salmonella, or Campylobacter infections need to be treated in hospital. 
• Immunocompromised people would include those who live with liver disease, kidney disease, HIV, diabetes, and people currently receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy. They are many times more likely to end up with serious bacterial food poisoning cases.
• Children under 5, too, fall into a high risk group. You may have heard that diarrheal diseases, which would include food poisoning, claim the lives of tens of thousands of children in developing countries each year — but even in the United States, young children are at risk of dehydration, kidney failure, and other complications. 
• Pregnant women are especially vulnerable to certain kinds of bacterial food poisoning. Listeria is poses a special risk, and it can be dangerous for an unborn baby even if the mother doesn't have any symptoms. This is why pregnant women are advised to steer clear of improperly cooked seafood at all costs.

2. Some foods are more associated with food poisoning

Some foods are particularly likely to pose a risk of carrying harmful pathogens. Do you know which ones? 

• Beef, pork, chicken, and turkey are, in their raw states, at risk of containing the kinds of bacteria that give you food poisoning. Poultry is extremely likely to be carrying Campylobacter, and other nasties like Salmonella may also be found there. Raw beef and pork can be contaminated with Salmonella, Yersinia, and other bacteria. 
• Raw milk products, which includes many soft cheeses as well as raw milk itself, may be praised by some for its supposed health benefits, but it can also make you very sick with common pathogens like Listeria and E. Coli. That's why you won't be able to buy these products in supermarkets, but be careful with farmers' markets and similar "mom and pop" distributors as well. 
• Eggs are well-known for their risk of Salmonella, and that's plenty of reason never to eat anything including uncooked eggs. 
• Fish and seafood that is either raw or undercooked poses another special risk. Vibriosis, a flesh-eating bacterial infection from the sea, is an especially nasty one. Norovirus is another. 
• It's not just foods that come from animal sources that pose a threat, mind you — improperly washed raw fruits and vegetables are a danger, too, and Salmonella, Listeria, and E. Coli are the usual suspects. This is why it's important to throughly wash all your raw veg and fruit, too.

3. Just how can food poisoning become fatal or pose a serious threat to your health?

Cases of food poisoning that started like any other — with your usual diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and sometimes a fever and headache — can take a turn for the worse when they lead to:

• Dehydration, which can become extremely dangerous by progressing to shock, causing organ damage, and ultimately becoming fatal without the right care. Signs of dehydration include no urination or extremely dark and sporadic urine, lethargy, fainting, disorientation, extremely dry skin, heart palpitations, and fast breathing. 
• Hemolytic uremic syndrome is a rare kidney condition that is particularly linked to E. Coli infections in young children. Take your child with suspected food poisoning to the ER right away if they are pale, fainting, have swelling in their legs, are peeing less often or not at all, or have blood in the urine.
• Irritable bowel syndrome. It may surprise you, but some people develop IBS after coming down with a case of food poisoning.
• Botulism, which is associated with improperly prepared seafoods, can lead to a paralysis of the face that obstructs breathing.
• Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological autoimmune disorder, can develop after infections, including food poisoning. The bacterium Campylobacter jejuni, which can be found in raw pork and other meats, has a special link with GBS. Most people recover, but some suffer permanent damage. 
• Reactive arthritis, a kind of arthritis that typically affects the lower limbs, can set in within weeks after an infection, and that is especially associated with Salmonella infections.

4. Food poisoning can be prevented

Or at least, you can greatly reduce your risk of developing a foodborne ilness or being in any way responsible for someone else's case of food poisoning. Right now, many of us are concerned about the potential risk of catching COVID-19 from food or its packaging. Although there is no evidence that food poses a risk of transmitting the coronavirus at the moment, some of the very same steps we take to protect ourselves and others against COVID-19 can also go a long way toward reducing the risk of food poisoning. 

Those, of course, would include washing your hands often and properly before, while, and after preparing any kind of food, as well as frequently cleaning and disinfecting all surfaces in your kitchen or any other place where you may cook or prepare meals. Take care to wash your dishes properly, at high temperatures, as well. 

Are you working with raw meats, seafoods, or poultry? Those should always be kept apart from other foods, such as salads you'll be serving raw, to reduce your odds of cross-contamination. Yes, that means making sure you don't use the same utensils, including kitchen knives, cutting boards, and cutlery to "operate on" your meat without throughly washing them first. 

Meats of any kind should be cooked to safe temperatures, and the FDA warns that you absolutely cannot tell just by looking at the outside. Use a food thermometer to be sure, and look up the correct, safe, temperatures. 

A final aspect of food safety that more people may be unaware of is related to safe refrigeration and defrosting.

Perishable food items should always be placed within the fridge within two hours, and within one if it's hot out — but hey, if you don't want to bother looking up the temperature, let's just say you should put your food in the fridge within one hour. You can put your leftovers into smaller containers to allow them to cool and be ready to go in the fridge faster. In your fridge, the temperature should be a consistent 40° F or less. 

Are you still thawing frozen foods at room temperature, like previous generations did before you? You shouldn't. The safe way to defrost foods is in the fridge, bathing in cold water, or alternatively inside your microwave on the appropriate setting.