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 5C and 60C)
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 60C) or cold (below 5C)
Reheat foods to 75C 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 5C and freezers below 18C
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.