Bad food practices can make you sick

As another scorching summer hits Australia, the safety of our food is once again thrust into the spotlight. The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) estimates that each year over four million Australians get sick from eating contaminated food. While all food contains naturally occurring bacteria, most of which aid our bodies in some way, the risk of illness is heightened when food becomes contaminated.

The chances of actually getting food poisoning are low if you compare the number of incidents reported to the number of meals consumed. This can't be taken as gospel though because many cases of food poisoning go unreported, often being regarded as too mild to worry about.

These days, as the food processing industry continues to focus on safe processing practices, people are more likely to suffer a bout of food poisoning from eating at home or at a restaurant, rather than from prepackaged food items.

Food poisoning is an illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food or water. Food containing bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi, or the toxins produced by them.

Campylobacter Identified in the 1970s as a food-borne pathogen, campylobacter is a common cause of gastroenteritis. Illness is caused by consumption of undercooked poultry, raw milk and cross contamination of food sources. Salmonella Salmonella is a common cause of food poisoning. It is found in the faeces of infected animals, and poor food handling often contributes to salmonella infections in humans. Salmonellosis is the disease caused by salmonella and can lead to stomach pain, chills, fever, headaches or diarrhoea. Escherichia coli (E. coli) Enterohaemorrhagic strains of E.coli are found occasionally in cattle and sheep faeces. These are the strains that will cause human infection. These strains may contaminate meat during the slaughter and dressing of carcasses. Infection can be transmitted to humans via meats, usually if undercooked. Other foods may also become contaminated, eg, unpasteurised milk has caused outbreaks of E.coli food poisoning.

Common sources of food poisoning include: unpasteurised dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yoghurt; raw or undercooked meat including salami, mettwurst, pastrami and raw or undercooked chicken, beef, pork and seafood; stored cooked food such as rice; and sauces.

The three main causes of food poisoning are:

Temperature changes. Most illness-causing bacteria grow best between 0-60°C. Foods need to be kept either very cold or very hot in order to remain free from disease-causing bacteria. Changes in temperature during cooking and food storage are likely to contribute to the development of unhealthy bacteria growth.

Cross contamination. Cross contamination occurs when bacteria from contaminated food is transferred onto other food. The risk of contamination is heightened if the newly affected food is not cooked. Cross contamination can occur when a knife is used to cut raw meat and then to cut products such as bread, or fruit and vegetables. Hands transferring dirt are also major culprits of cross contamination.

The best way to reduce the incident of cross contamination is to be aware of it. The risk of cross contamination can be reduced by washing cooking utensils and chopping boards thoroughly between uses, making sure they are dry to stop bacteria growing in moist conditions, and always washing hands before handling food, after handling raw meat and before eating food.

Poor food preparation and handling. The way food is prepared and subsequently handled can ultimately increase the risk of food poisoning. Not properly thawing meat and poultry before it is cooked can lead to bacterial contamination; also heating frozen food and refreezing it is likely to cause illness. Washing raw fruit and vegetables before using them in salads is also paramount, as bacteria occuring on raw items can lead to food poisoning.

How to identify the symptoms of food poisoning

Symptoms of food poisoning may not always be present straight after a meal. Depending on the bacteria that cause the poisoning, the incubation period can be a mere few hours or days and can even stretch out to months.

Common symptoms of food poisoning include:

• diarrhoea,
• vomiting,
• abdominal pain,
• fever,
• chills, and
• headaches.

No matter how slight the symptoms, if food poisoning has occurred, and the source is thought to be a public food outlet, authorities should be informed. Bad food handling and preparation practices cannot be stopped if cases are not reported.

How to prevent food poisoning

Many incidences of food poisoning are now occuring in the home and in the food service sector, rather than in the food processing industry.

It is easy to keep the chances of food poisoning to a minimum by adopting safe food handling practices in the home.

• Wash hands with soap and warm water before handling foods and before switching between raw and cook food items.
• Wash utensils and cutting boards thoroughly, keeping them dry between use and free of bacteria.
• Cook food properly. Though this may sound obvious, often food contamination is caused by undercooked meals involving meat and poultry. Bacteria such as E.coli thrive on uncooked meat.
• Cold and frozen foods should be stored in the fridge or freezer as soon as they are purchased.
• Keep food at the correct temperature. Hot food should be kept hot and not allowed to cool, and cold food should be served straight from the fridge to avoid contamination.

When eating out, it's always wise to be aware of where you are buying food. Does the restaurant look clean? Are staff wearing gloves when they handle food?

The most recent, high profile case of poor food handling occurred in the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn.

In 2004, Auburn Council decided to prosecute twelve food operators in the suburb's main street. A public council report found the premises posed "significant risk to human health". One store had fresh food stored in a toilet, vermin faeces were found in multiple shops and employees in another shop were smoking freely over prepared food. In this case, the council caught the area's worst offenders before too many people fell ill.

This wasn't the case recently in Melbourne, when 90 people fell sick after eating at a suburban pizzeria. One man underwent surgery and the restaurant was closed twice as a result of salmonella traces being found in the pizza mix. A law firm has taken action against the pizza shop on behalf of 46 of the sick diners.

Another trend that is heightening the risk of food poisoning is the growing interest in 'natural' foods. Natural foods that contain little salt and fewer preservatives do not last as long as their heavily processed counterparts. People often forget this and become sick after eating natural foods that are long past the eating stage.

While consumers grow lapse over the shelf life of their food, food processors are growing more aware of the importance of safe food practices. Several large food contamination scares in Australia, including the 1995 Mettwurst sausage contamination in Adelaide that saw one boy die, have forced the food processing industry to be acutely aware of the dangers associated with its practices.

The global introduction of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system helps reduce risks in the food industry.

HACCP involves identifying all the possible risks associated with food processing, prioritising them and monitoring them, so if anything goes wrong, the process can be stopped and the product is prevented from becoming contaminated.

Dr Trish Desmarchelier, of the CSIRO, says that while HACCP is helping keep food contamination under control, there are other things that can be done to lower incidence even further.

"The food industry is doing a good job, with instructions on correct handling and cooking on the package and point-of-sale messages - but it's up to consumers to also accept responsibility for their own safety."

Food safety is the job of everyone. Following the preventative measures outlined in this article, along with applying some commonsense when dealing with food, from any source, should help keep food poisoning cases to a minimum.

Food poisoning outbreaks A simple New Year celebration for Muslims in Melbourne's Northern suburbs turned into two days of hell in 2002 when contaminated rice was believed to be the cause of severe food poisoning that hit more than 250 people. The rice was tested by health authorities, along with other food served at the event, after 10 hospitals and medical centres were overrun with violently ill people. Initial tests on rice dishes indicated the likely bacterial germ was bacillus cereus. The rice outbreak was the worst mass food poisoning in Victoria since 1997 when more than 550 people fell ill after eating pork rolls infected with salmonella at a bread shop in Springvale, a suburb of Melbourne. The bakery was subsequently closed down.