Facts: Food Poisoning What Is Food Poisoning?

What Is Bacteria?

Food poisoning is an illness caused by eating contaminated food. Every person is at risk of foodborne illness, but some people are more at risk.

Bacteria can be found everywhere in the environment, on our bodies, in the soil, in water, air and in the food we eat.

It is estimated that over 5 million Australians are affected by food poisoning every year. Food poisoning is usually blamed on the last thing eaten. However, food poisoning can take up to 76 hours before sickness becomes apparent. Approx 20% of food poisoning cases are a result of meals eaten at home. Therefore, food safety is vital for all people handling food, whether at home or in the restaurant.

Causes of Food Poisoning The three scientific causes of food poisoning are: 1. Bacteria 2. Viral 3. Chemical (either naturally occurring in food or introduced)

Many types of bacteria are useful and essential to our health and survival. However, there are certain strains of bacteria - known as pathogenic bacteria, that are harmful to humans. If a person eats food contaminated by pathogenic bacteria, it may lead to extreme illness (possibly even death), acute vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, headaches, and stomach cramps. Different levels of sickness may be caused by pathogenic bacteria depending upon the following variables. i) Type of pathogenic bacteria present ii) The number of pathogenic bacteria present, and iii) The risk type of person (high-risk people include the unwell, young, old and pregnant mothers).



In most cases, the causes of food poisoning are created by the poor practice of a food handler. Such poor practices commonly include:  Poor personal hygiene eg; not washing hands correctly  Working with food when sick  Keeping food in the ‘danger zone’ (between 5˚C and 60˚C) during preperation, storage, service & transport  Purchasing foods from uncertain suppliers  Bad food hygiene practice - eg: cross contamination  Unclean food contact surfaces  Leaving food unprotected and opent to contamination by dust, pests etc. Food contamination is not just limited to foods you consider risky, such as chicken and fish. Prepared fruits, vegetables and salads can also be potentially dangerous. Contaminated food may look, smell and taste normal.

How To Prevent Food Poisoning 1. Avoid Bacterial contamination  Maintain good personal hygiene  Wash hands frequently and whenever they are a likely source of contamination (especially after using the toilet, and handling raw foods)

3.5 For more information on the best food handling practices and a safer environment go to www.pittwater.nsw.gov.au or call 9970 1111

Healthy living and environment

Environmental Compliance / July 2008 / ECHRP08

Clean and sanitise food preparation equipment and surfaces by: - Scraping, soaking and rinsing - Washing using a suitable detergent and hot water - Sanitising using chemicals or very hot water  Avoid cross-contamination by preparing and storing raw and cooked foods separately

2. Stop bacterial growth  Keep food either hot (above 60˚C) or cold (below 5˚C)  Reheat foods to 75˚C as quickly as possible  Divide large quantities of food into small portions to facilitate faster cooling  Refrigerate/freeze foods within 30 minutes of preparation  Check that refrigerators, coolrooms and cold displays operate below 5˚C and freezers below 18˚C  Do not overload refrigerators, coolrooms, cold displays or freezers  Thaw foods in the refrigerator, coolroom or by using the correct microwave techniques 3. Kill bacteria by cooking food properly  Control temperatures to kill bacteria during the cooking process  Ensure that the internal temperature of the food will be sufficient to kill bacteria  Prevent the growth of any remaining bacteria spores by following steps 2 (above)

For more information on the best food handling practices and a safer environment

What To Do If You Have Food Poisoning  Consult your local doctor immediately  Contact the NSW Food Authority on 1300 552 401  Try to remember all of the recent foods you have consumed (at least over the past week)  Provide contact details of all other known people suffering from similar symptoms  If you have a suspect food sample it may be evidence - so keep it refrigerated.  People with diarrhoea and vomiting should stay home from work or school and drink plenty of fluids. As a precaution, they should not prepare food for 48 hours after the symptoms have finished. The Food Safety Standards require that food handlers suffering, or suspect to be suffering from foodborne illness must not contaminate food as a result of the disease.