Foodborne Illnesses

As peoples living standard increase, people know that high nutrition in food is
good for the body, but most people ignore the risk of food safety. For example there
are H7(the 7th different kind of H antigen find in E.Coli) in meat and apple juice,
Salmonella(a group of bacteria that cause typhoid fever, food posoning, and other
illnesses) in eggs and on vegetables, Cryptosporidium(a diarrheal disease cause by
microscopic parasites) in drinking water and so on. All of those pathogens grow inside
the food that eyes can not see them, if people use the wrong way to cook or save food.
If we do not have any knowledge about food safety, people may get sick one day.
Foodborne illnesses is disease transmitted by people to food that happens in our
life. The most horrible thing is foodborne illnesses will outbreak while two or more
people have the same disease. The elderly , preschool-age children and people with
compromised immune systems are the high risk people to get foodborne illnesses
because those people do not have strong immune systems. According to the Hingley
report But as many as 9,000 Americans -- mostly the very young and elderly -- die each year,
and millions more are sickened, as the result of a food-related illness. So people need to pay

attention to the risks that unsafe food causes to our body. It is useful for people to
learn food safety, because it can help people prevent get sick. First of all, people need
to consider how foodborne illnesses occur in our life. Contamination is the most
general way to make food unsafe. So pathogens, chemicals, and physical objects are
the three areas that most unsafe food comes from.

Pathogens are the most dangerous to food safety. They include viruses, bacteria,
parasites and fungi. The different type of pathogens will grow in different conditions.
Thus, people developed many different ways to keep food safe.
First, viruses need a host to grow are carried by people and animals. For instance
Norovirusa is a highly contagious viruses which is transfered to food during infected
food handler touch food. According to Marler Clark, Norovirus causes nearly 60% of all
foodborne illness outbreaks.Transmission occurs either person-to-person or through contamination
of food or water. To prevent norovirus people should know washing hands is the most

common way to stop norovirus transfers to food. People who have diarrhea and
vomiting are the symptoms of getting norovirus. There are two foods linked with the
viruses, ready to eat food and shellfish from contaminated water.
Second, bacteria are also a type of pathogen that often cause of foodborne
illnesses. Bacteria are easy to find almost in every place, and they live in our bodies or
animals bodies. According to the Servsafe Manager(p2.4) bacteria can grow quickly
in FAT TOM conditions. F stands for food, A stands for acidity, T stands for
temperature, T stands for time, O stands for oxygen and M stands for Moisture. If
people want to prevent bacteria infectious on food, people just need to focus on the
FAT TOM. Comparing the viruses and bacteria, viruses is easy to prevent, but also easy

to infect. The salmonella Typhi and Shigella spp. are the most common bacteria.
Third, parasites also need a host to live which is located in seafood, wild game,
and contaminated water. So the best and easy way to get safe food is to purchase food
from approved, reputable suppliers. The reason why people should buy from

approved, reputable suppliers because it is not easy to clear the parasites from seafood
or wild game. Thus, approved, reputable suppliers will check and prove the food is
safe to eat when they sell the food.. Fungi are the pathogens that we often see, but it
does not mean many people know about them, such as yeasts, molds, and mushrooms.
Some molds and mushrooms have toxins that can cause foodborne illnesses. As a
result, if people want to buy those vegetables, it is suggest to buy from approved,
reputable suppliers.
Chemical contaminants are always a problem that people often ignore or not care
about. However, many people get sick after they consume food or beverages because
restaurants used or stored the chemical in the wrong way and do not follow directions.
For example a restaurant stored with deodorizers the kitchenware and equipment. If
the deodorizers touched the kitchenware and equipment, and the chef takes the
kitchenware and used it for cooking. Then, food is not safe to eat. People should store
the chemical far away from prep food because chemicals become toxic and people get
sick or toxic. When you need to use chemicals, let someone who knows about
chemicals to get them and follow the direction to use the chemical. If one not know
the effect of the chemical, please do not use it until known. The symptom of chemical
contaminants is hard to know because people do not know how to prevent them, but
most of the symptoms will occur within minutes. The symptoms could be vomiting or
diarrhea are the most common ways. According to the Servsafe Manager(p2.9), there
are seven steps needed to focus on:
First, purchase chemicals from approved, reputable suppliers. Second, store

chemical away from prep area and never store above food or food contact surfaces.
Third, follow the instruction book. Fourth, only use equipment and utensil approved
for foodservice use. Fifth, make sure original label is on the chemical. Sixth, keep
MSDS current. Seventh, follow instruction, if required to throw out, do it
immediately.
The physical contaminant occurs when some object gets into the food and food
was eaten by people. For example, there is a hair in the soup but no one knows there
is a hair in soup. Finally, the consumer may get sick when he or she drinks the soup.
So high personal hygiene is the most important things that the restaurant manager
needs to focus on to prevent foodborne illnesses. There are too many actions that we
do every day that can cause physical contaminant-for instance, scratching the scalp,
running fingers through the hair and rubbing an ear. Those bad habits are not able to
do when you walk into the kitchen in a restaurant. If people want to improve their
personal hygiene the first step is handwashing. According to Mack, James C, a safe
environment Restaurant must have someone to train the handwashing program. There
are five steps to wash your hands. First you should wet hands and arms. Second
people need to apply soap. Third, people need to scrub hands and arms vigorously.
Fourth, we should use running water to rinse hands and arms thoroughly. The finally
step is people should dry hands and arms. According to the Servsafe Manager(p3.7),
people should wash their hand in designated sink. Never wash their hands in a
designated sink for prepping food. Second step is hand care can help people prevent
spreading pathogens. Fingernail length should be keep trimmed and filed because

long fingernail is not clean enough and can rip the glove. Chefs are not able to wear
nail polish, because it can also easy to cause physical contaminant. When people are
ready to prepare food, single use gloves to wear are necessary.
In conclusion, Foodborne illnesses can be prevented in three parts that is
pathogen, chemical contaminant, and physical contaminant. If people control well
those three parts, food is safe to eat; otherwise outbreak may happen. According to
Gilliss Debra, in 2010 the pathogen causes foodborne illnesses incidence has low,
23% compared to 1996-1998. The shegella bacteria are lower, but some other bacteria
are higher than before. People should get away from pathogen are the best way to
prevent pathogen transfer to food. Therefore, the viruses need a host to grow
which means people should be careful about their bad habits to transfer viruses to
food. The bacteria will grow fast in FAT TOM conditions which means people can
focus on the FAT TOM to control bacteria growth. The parasites and fungi are easier to
prevent than viruses and bacteria, because people just need to buy raw meat or
seafood food from approved, reputable suppliers. Chemical contaminants can cause
foodborne illnesses by metal and cleaners. The best way to prevent chemical
contaminants is to keep chemical away from prep food. Physical contaminants occur
when something get into food. Thus people should wash their hands frequently before
they eat. It is very important to keep your hands clean no matter you are consumer or
worker.

Work Cited
Clark, Marler. Norovirus Food Poisoning. Norovirus:What is Norovirus?. NP.ND.
June 02,2014

Hingley, Audrey. "Focus on Food Safety: Initiative Calls on Government, Industry, Consumers to
Stop Food-Related Illness." FDA Consumer. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1997.HighBeam
Research. 2 Jun. 2014
Mack, James C. "Food workers' perspectives on handwashing behaviors and barriers

in the

restaurant environment." The Free Library 01 June 2007. 02 June 2014 .

National Restaurant Association Education Foundation(NRAEF). Servsafe Manager

6th Edition. 2012 print
Gilliss, Debra. Vital signs: incidence and trends of infection with pathogens

transmitted

commonly through food--foodborne diseases active surveillance network, 10 U.S. sites, 19962010.MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. U.S. Government Printing Office. 2011.
HighBeam Research. 4 Jun. 2014