This type of food infection can be prevented by rapidly cooling cooked and heat processed foods, proper refrigeration of foods, and good sanitation. Temperatures of foods on steam tables should be held above 140 ºF. Leftovers should be thoroughly heated to destroy the bacteria and its toxins.
Salmonellosis
There is a large variety of Salmonellae organisms that can cause the food infection Salmonellosis. These bacteria grow inside the host and produce a toxin which causes illness by irritating the intestinal walls. One million or more organisms must be ingested in order to cause illness. Most cases of salmonellosis are a result of contact of prepared foods with raw meet or its juices. Eating raw or rare meat is also a danger. Other cases result from insufficiently cooked poultry, eggs, and dairy products especially when kept unrefrigerated for longer periods of time. Salmonellae bacteria can be prevented by cleanliness and sanitation of food handlers and equipment, pasteurization, and refrigeration.
Trichinosis
One of the most well known parasites which causes food infection is Trichinella spiralis. These small, wormlike organisms can be found in insufficiently cooked meat of carnivorous animals such as pigs. Ingested larvae mature in the upper part of the intestinal walls within five to seven days. The mature worms then reproduce in the intestine where new larvae are hatched. The larvae then migrate to the circulatory system and are carried to the muscles of the host where they burrow and become encysted causing muscle pain in the host. The most common way to prevent this type of food infection is by cooking pork to internal temperatures of at least 138 ºF.
Campylobacter Enterocolitis
Poultry and other types of meats can be contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Ingestion of as few as 500 bacteria can cause food infection with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea. Fortunately, these bacteria are easily controlled as they are killed at normal cooking temperatures and do not multiply at temperatures below 86 ºF
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dawn
Der, her, her!
2 - Eric Olsen
very fine phonetic rendering of "that isn't very funny"
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahah
man, it took me a time to get that right there, but it was worth it. what a gloriously simple kick in the funny-guts.
4 - Lisa McKay
Vacation has clearly done you a world of good.
5 - Eric Berlin
EO the Trixter...
All need now be on Alert...
6 - Lisa
Crap, now what will I make for dinner?
7 - DrPat
Goodness, Eric, I hope this wasn't prompted by a personal experience! As someone blessed with an iron stomach (as long as I don't put anything corrosive into it, I'm okay...), I rarely think about all the ways our food can go wrong.
Pass the chicken and potato salad, please!
8 - Temple Stark
and the vindaloo and onion bajis
Lisa :-)
9 - Eric Olsen
no recent personal experience, anyway: it was prompted by coming back to the site after a week and seeing a vast number of comments and posts prefaced by SPOILER ALERT
10 - Bennett
Good one EO!
Just this morning I pulled a roast out of the fridge that had been marinating in garlic and a cool garlic black bean sauce for.... I forget, a week or so? It's been too damn hot to use the oven so I kept putting it off.
Anyway, I go to sear the sucker (seersucker?) and notice that it's a touch on the slimy side. Smells a little bit *odd* too.
WTF, I'm cooking it so anything on it will die. So I sear it and stick it on a rack in the oven.
After pulling it from the oven I take a quick sniff or two... Hmmmm.... What does the nose know?
It knows the dog eats good tonight!
Especially after reading your tricksy post.
11 - Eric Olsen
thanks Bennett, very glad my nonsense served an actual purpose!
12 - Natalie Davis
OMG, I needed a big laugh, and this provided it. Thanks, Eric!
13 - Eric Olsen
thank you Nat! much appreciated
14 - Mark Sahm
Very funny EO. I now have some semblance of what caused my food poisoning last month when I ate a Burger King chicken sandwich.
15 - Eric Olsen
thanks Mark, very pleased to be amusing AND informative!
16 - Victor Lana
Eric,
This clearly reminds me why I NEVER buy hotdogs (or anything else for that matter) from the vendors in Manhattan. Now, heading to the closet to look for swelling cans.
Thanks!
Vic
17 - Mark Sahm
Victor, the Burger King that dealt the killshot to my insides was on 5th Ave off 37th. Beware.
18 - Jones Violet
Hilarious..though...I don't think I want to eat anything for a while now.
Now, excuse me while I examine the contents of the kitchen verrrry caerfully!
19 - Eric Olsen
most vicious assaults on my innards were an awards banquet in college (you are hereby honored, now disengorge for 24 hours), and a San Antonio taco place on my first honeymoon - the memories cause my intestines to clench
20 - Mark Sahm
There's nothing quite like seeing the bathroom porcelain and tile from an ant's view, eh Eric?
21 - Eric Olsen
especially on your honeymoon
22 - Dawn
Had you carefully paid attention to that omen Eric, you would have been spared years of torment and hell, and could been married to ME that much longer.
If only men weren't so clueless about the subtle hints from God.
23 - Nancy
Ah, sometimes it pays to be a vegetarian. Much less risk of lentils gone bad. Good post, Eric; you got everyone looking & thinking.
24 - Eric Olsen
good point Nancy, and I agree that may well have been an omen Dawn, but at the time of my honeymoon dyspepsia you were 12
25 - Dawn
Ahh well, 12, yeah, that is pretty gross - I don't think I would have found you that attractive then. Well attractive perhaps, but not "attracted". Point noted!