Foodborne Illness
Foodborne illnesses are caused by certain types of bacteria and viruses or eating food contains toxins. They can be associated with any food product that is carelessly handled, but are more often a problem with foods of animal origin.
           
Most foodborne illnesses are of short duration and are not life threatening. However, it is known that certain types of foodborne illnesses can have long term health effects such as arthritic conditions, heart complications, kidney failure and central nervous system disorders. In some cases, foodborne illness may even cause death.

To prevent the foodborne illness:

Rule 1: Prevent food from becoming contaminated.
Rule 2: Use temperature to control the growth of bacteria.
Food borne illness can be divided into food infection and food poisoning. Especially, the media tends to describe all food-related illnesses as "food poisoning", but this is incorrect.
What is Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning, also called bacterial gastroenteritis, refers to an illness that is caused by eating food contains toxins. Each year it is estimated that as many as 5.5 million people in the UK may suffer from foodborne illnesses - that's 1 in 10 people. Guidelines and regulations for the safe cooking and handling of food are meant to guard against food poisoning, but food poisoning still occurs. All of people can get food poisoning. Vulnerable people who are most seriously affected by food poisoning are infants, the elderly, sick, pregnant women and those with conditions that weaken the immune system.
Food can become contaminated by bacteria, viruses, environmental toxins, or toxins naturally occurring within the food itself, such as the poisons in some mushrooms, seafood, plants, and shrubs. Most common microorganisms cause food poisoning are:

• Salmonella
• Staphylococcus aureus
• Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7
• Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni)
• Shigella
• Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum) bacteria.

Toxins directly affect the biological reactions taking place in the body. At sufficiently high concentrations, the effects are acute and take place a few hours after consumption. The toxins can have various origins, but the two most well known bacterial toxins are produced by Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium botulinum. C. botulinum is the most dangerous cause of food poisoning. unlike other types of bacteria, the C. botulinum toxins affect the nervous system.

Figure 1. S. aureus	Figure 2. C. botulinum

Certain toxins like mycotoxins have serious long-term effects even at small concentrations. Most of these toxins are resistant to heat, so they are not eliminated by cooking.
Food poisoning may cause abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, muscle  pain, weakness, and fatigue.
The risk of food poisoning can be kept low by following good hygiene and:

• Immediately putting cold foods into the refrigerator or freezer as soon as you return from shopping,
• Keeping raw meat and fish covered and at the bottom of the fridge,
• Thawing and cooking meat thoroughly to kill off any harmful bacteria,
• Using different chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods,
• Making sure that chopping boards are washed and dried properly before storage to reduce the risk of bacteria growing,
• Making sure any reheated food is piping hot,
• Making sure all food is covered and chilled,
• Washing your hands after visiting the toilet, before handling food or touching ready to eat food,
• Washing salads thoroughly and rinsing fruit and vegetables under running water before eating them,
• Avoiding unpasteurised milk, raw eggs and undercooked meat,
• Not allowing raw meat juices to come into contact with other food,
• Keeping kitchen work surfaces clean,
• Keeping pets away from work tops and food,
• Throwing away any food that is past its sell by date or that you are unsure of,
• Not leaving food out for longer than a couple of hours or if its a hot day, an hour,
• Putting any cooked left-overs into the fridge as soon as they have cooled down,
• Keeping all types of food and drink away from any household chemicals, such as cleaning products and bleach.
• Cleaning knives and other utensils thoroughly after use with raw food, and
• Checking that your fridge and freezer are in good working order and set to the correct temperature. The fridge should be 0-4°C (33.8F - 39.2F) and the freezer should be less than -18°C (-0.4F).

What is Food Infection?
A food borne infection is caused by an infectious pathogens (micro organisms that cause infections) in the food. These micro organisms multiply in the intestine. Furthermore these micro organisms release toxins that invade and damage the epithelium cells. The consequences are stomach ache and diarrhoea within some hours or several days after eating the contaminated food. After a few days these symptoms disappear, but one can still excrete the germ with the stools. Such a person is called a healthy carrier. By bad (toilet) hygiene one can contaminate food and other people.
The bacteria causing most food infections are Salmonella , Campylobacter and E. coli . Viruses also cause food borne infections. Most food borne infections occur during the summer, because the growing conditions for the bacteria are better. In most cases the food infection is quite mild, most people only have diarrhoea. Older people, small children or people with a weak resistance are most severely affected.
Proper heating of food can prevent food borne infections. Almost all non-spore forming bacteria are killed at temperatures above 70 °C.
Although most food borne infections occur in the home, outbreaks in restaurants often get more attention because they tend to affect larger numbers of people.

References

http://www.fcs.uga.edu/ext/pubs/fdns/FDNS-E-44.pdf
http://www.hmc.psu.edu/healthinfo/f/foodpoisoning.htm
http://www.foodlink.org.uk/factfile1.pdf
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=411&sectionId=9

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