WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING REALLY SCARY?
How about this: 7 million cases of food-borne illness a year. Seven thousand deaths. That’s from U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates. Other agencies put the numbers far higher. The USDA estimates up to 4 million cases of salmonellosis a year. The Centers for Disease Control blames E. coli O157:H7 for 20,000 illnesses a year.
Fear is not the right response. Knowledge is. If you’re going to protect yourself, you need to understand the enemy, and the issue of food-borne illness is getting more complicated. Salmonellosis from raw eggs has been in the public eye only since the mid-1980s. E. coli O157:H7 didn’t even exist 10 years ago.
“We’ll never get rid of it,” said Libby Hoyle, a professor and extension food specialist at Clemson University. “(E. coli) is a part of life. That doesn’t mean we can’t co-exist.”
More changes are coming. Increasingly, irradiation — striking raw food with low levels of radiation — is being held up as a solution.
“We’re fools not to,” said Dr. James Oliver, a biology professor and director of the biotechnology program at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. “It’s much less destructive than canning and pasteurizing.” It renders meat so bug-free that the food can sit at room temperature for months without spoiling.
But public fear, expense and concern over whether irradiation changes the nutritional content will keep that debate alive for years. While the experts debate policies and procedures, you’ve got to eat. Just be careful out there.
E. coli:
– Real name: Escherichia coli O157:H7 (pronounced ess-cha-REE-kia co-lie). A k a: enterohemorrhagic E. coli.
– Where it lives: E. coli grows in the intestines of all mammals, including humans. Normally, E. coli holds down the growth of harmful bacteria and helps the body make use of vitamins. However, O157:H7 is a new strain that shares DNA with Shigella dysenteriae. It lives in animals such as cattle and doesn’t make them sick, but it makes humans sick.
– Why it makes you sick: E. coli O157:H7 produces large amounts of toxins similar to the toxin produced by Shigella dysenteriae, which causes dysentery. It also releases a second toxin that damages the lining of the intestines.
– How sick do you get? It takes very few cells, and the bacteria grow very quickly, dividing about every 20 minutes. The illness causes severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. There is usually no fever. The illness lasts from three to seven days. In children, the elderly and adults with compromised immune systems, it also can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome: The shigella toxin destroys red blood cells, causing anemia, kidney damage, renal failure and death.
– What makes it so bad: It takes very few cells to make you sick. O157:H7 also behaves in surprising ways. It can live in some acidic foods, which is why it can survive in unpasteurized apple cider. It also can survive refrigerator temperatures and grows quickly when the food is returned to room temperature.
– How to kill it: Cook it. Thoroughly cook raw food, particularly ground beef, to temperatures of 160 degrees or more. Avoid it. Know where your food came from. Or zap it. Irradiation is being considered for foods that are usually eaten raw, such as fruit and sprouts.
Salmonella:
– Real name: Salmonella enteritidis and salmonella typhimuriam (pronounced en-tuh-RID-i-tis and tie-pha-MUR-i-am). There are several strains, but these two are most common in food-borne illness.
– Where it lives: Where doesn’t it live? It is widespread in animals, particularly poultry and pigs, and reptiles that are commonly kept as pets, such as turtles. It also can be found in water, soil and insects; on surfaces in factories and kitchens; in animal feces; and on raw meat, poultry and seafood. Wherever it arrives, it thrives.
– Why it makes you sick: When you eat food that is contaminated, the bacteria get into the lining of the small intestine, grow rapidly and inflame it. They also produce an endotoxin that makes you sick. It can take only 15 to 20 cells to make you sick.
– How sick do you get? That depends on your age, physical condition and the strain of salmonella. Generally, symptoms can take from 8 to 72 hours to show up. You’ll experience nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever and headache, usually for one to two days. From three to four weeks later, you might have symptoms of arthritis.
– What makes it so bad: It’s very common in poultry and eggs, which are widely used foods. It takes very few cells to cause infection, and cross-contamination is common.
– How to kill it: Prevent it. Wash hands, utensils and cutting surfaces with hot, soapy water and never put cooked food where raw food has been. Cook it and cool it. Keep food very cold or very hot–below 40 degrees or above 160. Chill food properly by putting thick casseroles into shallower containers or cutting large pieces of meat into smaller ones.
Supporting players:
Salmonella and E. coli get a lot of attention, but there are many food-borne illnesses. These are also worth watching out for:
– Listeria monocytogenes. A bacterium that is usually associated with unpasteurized milk, soft-ripened cheese, raw vegetables, raw meat, raw and cooked poultry, and raw and smoked fish. Can cause other diseases such as meningitis and encephalitis and can cause miscarriage or stillbirth.
– Cyclospora cayetanesis. The one-cell parasite is found in soil or water that comes in contact with infected feces. A large outbreak in 1996 was traced to imported raspberries. Wash all produce.
