|  | Public Health Safety | Food Safety

Common Cause of Food Poisoning

E. coli and salmonella are two of the most widely discussed causes of food poisoning, but other similar organisms (parasites, viruses and bacteria) also cause food poisoning, too. But it isn't just the organism that is the culprit, as the toxin from the organism also can be harmful. And even though the organism or toxin can be harmful, it must first contaminate a food that has been ingested before you can experience food poisoning.

  1. Common Cause

    • Food contamination is the most common cause of food poisoning. We ingest anywhere from one to three meals a day, as well as snacks, so contaminated foods are our greatest risk -- and the most common cause of food poisoning.

    Contamination

    • There are a number of ways foods can be contaminated. Many people think that contamination occurs during food preparation; however, it can also happen during the growing process. In fact, contamination can happen during the harvesting of the food, the processing or storing of it, as well as the shipping of it.

    Significance

    • The news has carried stories in the past about migrant lettuce workers who relieved themselves in the very fields they were working to harvest due to a lack of proper facilities. Food contaminated in this way produces the E. coli organism that is very hard to kill since lettuce isn't a cooked food, which would aid in destroying the dangerous organism.

    Other Contaminants

    • In addition to the more well-known contaminants (E. coli and salmonella), there are other contaminants that can cause food poisoning, too: hepatitis A, vibrio vulnificus, shigella, rotavirus, listeria and clostridium, as well as campylobacter, giardia lamblia, noroviruses and staphylococcus aureus.

    Factors in Other Food Contaminations

    • Most people realize that raw foods that will not undergo the cooking process before being eaten (lettuce and raw oysters are two examples) are foods that are more easily contaminated. And some realize that meat, poultry, eggs and even milk could become contaminated if handled incorrectly (not cooked at hot enough temperatures to kill bacteria or not kept chilled).

      Other factors that can play a role in foods being contaminated include: the food is placed on contaminated surfaces or manipulated with contaminated utensils; a food handler with an infection handles the food or sneezes on it; or the food is contaminated due to being in contaminated seawater or soil during its growing process.

Food Safety - Related Articles