Foodborne Pathogens

In order to understand foodborne illnesses There are four types of pathogens microorganisms that they can contaminate the food and cause illness, than there is different conditions affect the growth of this foodborne harmful microorganisms we also need to know and understand the difference the different types of food that support the growth of pathogens we need to be able to distinguish between foodborne infections intoxications and toxin mediated infections than there is bacteria viruses parasites and fungi and there are different types of biological chemical and physical contaminants and we have to learn about food allergies. To really understand foodborne illness first we need to learn about microorganisms that cause them and

Schwan’s Sales Enterprise had the largest foodborne illness outbreak in history in Marshall, Minnesota around 1994 (Rubenstein, 1998). Cliff Viessman, a tanker truck operator transported a shipment of raw eggs that may have been infected with salmonella bacteria. The suspected contamination was unknown to Viessman’s employees. A foodborne illness is an infection or irritation of the gastrointestinal that caused by food or beverages that contain harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses, or chemicals. The company truck was parked and pressure washed to eliminate the bacteria. The next assignment was to transport ice cream mix to the Schwan’s plant (Rubenstein, 1998). Schwan’s company heard about the bacteria that may have affected their product and

I thought that the worst thing that might happen as result of ingesting pathogen while eating contaminated food is diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, or nausea nothing more serious than that. It was shocking to me that people might have serious injuries that may last with them during their life time due to contaminated food. Moreover, I believed that this kind of injuries occur only for children, elders, or immune compromise people until the last pages of the book where I found Stephanie's who was a healthy athletes 19 years old girl that suffered damages in her left side of the brain after she ate contaminated burger. The damage in her brain made her paralyzed (Benedict, 2011). Reading Poisoned made me curious to know how much do E.coli and the common pathogens in food cost the United States? It was stated that only E.coli O157:H7 illness coasts the U.S. economy around 225 million dollar every year as result of approximately 63 illnesses, 2138 hospitalizations, and 20 deaths. In addition to E.coli, there are around 13 that coast the economy around 14 million dollar every years causing 8,914,713 illnesses, 53,678 hospitalizations, and 1322 deaths (Michael et al, 2012). Anther pathogens that causes enormous economic loss such as Salmonella.enterica and Norovirus. Although they are not related to the story, I thought it is important to be mentioned. S.enterica only causes 3,309 million dollar cast of illness, 1,027,561 illnesses, 19336 hospitalizations, and 378 deaths every year in the United States. On the other hand, Norovirus results in 2002 million dollar coast of illness, 5,461,731 illnesses and 14663 hospitalization, and 149 deaths .These numbers includes only the confirmed cases, so, there are millions of cases that were unrecorded (Michael et al, 2012). Looking at these enormous numbers it is obvious to me how important is the

Opposing view point online collection in the article “Food Safety” explains that food safety is an issue that very few people think about until they become sick. Opposing viewpoints online collection supports their explanation by giving statistics on the amount of people that get sick each year along with the different types of foodborne illnesses there are. The author’s purpose is to show the dangers of foodborne illnesses by estimating that “40 million people experience foodborne diseases every year. In order to eliminate foodborne illnesses they must set a certain food standard. The author establishes a formal tone for the reader. This work is significant because it informs the readers what we need to do for solve the food safety issues

coli O157 became a reportable disease. But Outbreak surveillance has several limitations. Many outbreaks go unrecognized, are classified as outbreaks of unknown etiology, and are not reported to local public health officials or CDC. Smaller outbreaks and outbreaks with unknown transmission routes and vehicles are less likely to be reported. Additionally, outbreak reporting may not be uniform across time periods or states. Therefore, trends should be interpreted carefully, given the changing factors that may impact outbreak detection and reporting. While a summary of outbreaks cannot draw firm conclusions on disease trends, illustration of transmission routes, food vehicles, outbreak size, and clinical outcomes over time empowers public health officials, regulatory agencies, and health educators to target appropriate interventions and reevaluate current prevention

Due to the alarming lack of attention and care to the raisings of meats used in fast food restaurants, foodborne illnesses can and have appeared in items from places like Taco Bell and Jack in the Box. These diseases can then spread rapidly among the community as family members, classmates, coworkers, and even strangers come in contact, direct or indirect, with the infected: “People have been infected by drinking contaminated water, by swimming in a contaminated lake, by playing at a contaminated water park, by crawling on a contaminated carpet” (201). Schlosser reveals how vulnerable communities are to foodborne outbreaks - areas as small as a neighborhood or as large as a state are all susceptible to an outbreak. Because of this, people should be more careful of what they eat and should be more aware of where their food really comes from, both for their own sake and their

This case study, finalized and updated onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks about the Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Wandsworth Infections Linked to Veggie Booty. Publishing this outbreak onto their website makes it very beneficial and helps the public realize the importance of food health. Food health is just as important as overall public health. It is essential because people need to consume food in order to live, and if their food is tainted or contaminated, it would cause health problems and sickness and in some extreme cases, death. Ensuring food health will overall promote public health in the long run.

“ ‘Fifteen years ago, almost all cases I had were E.coli linked to hamburger, and now I have maybe two or three.’ “ There is progress but Americans still need to work together to eliminate it

•Objective 4.4: Protect agricultural health by minimizing major diseases and pests to ensure access to safe, plentiful, and nutritious food

If the government were to get more involved in the meatpacking industry, the United States of America would have less outbreaks of foodborne illnesses.  The problem with E.coli, along with other foodborne illnesses start inside of the feedlots.  At this point, there are at least 250 known foodborne illnesses, which are mainly infections that are caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites in the meat.  In America, each state gets to decide for themselves, which diseases they have the public health department look for in their food.  Instead, the government should be checking for all possible diseases in the food throughout the country.  Due to the lack of inspections, Eric Schlosser states that "{e}very day in the United States, roughly

The way cattle are raised, slaughtered, and processed provides the perfect setting for E. coli to spread. Because meat is now distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town can lead to a nationwide epidemic. The meatpacking industries are looking for the cheapest ways to make food to make more profit, even if it means less regulation on the quality of food. Cattle are fed remains and fecal matter of other animals, because grain prices are rising. Even fast food restaurants can be unsanitary and unfit for food production because there are not enough regulations regarding sanitary.

In August-October 2011 there was an outbreak of the Bacteria Listeriosis coming from a Colorado farm called Jensen Farm. Jensen farm held a press conference on September fourteenth and voluntarily recalled their cantaloupe. The cost associated with just one food borne illness shocked me. The symptoms of this outbreak were the same for many of the victims which included: fever, muscle aches, and diarrhea. The causalities were extremely high in this outbreak. There were 146 total infections, 30 deaths, and even a miscarriage roaming over 28 states in total. Most People who became ill were over sixty and fifty-eight percent were female (Multistate Outbreak of Listeriosis Linked to Whole Cantaloupes from Jensen Farms,

This replaced the 1994 health and safety outlines and was put forth to improve the inspection and compliance action of R.T.E foods, with respect to their potential to support the growth of this pathogen. This applied to all R.T.E foods, including dairy, produce, fish and seafood, meats and was applied to federally registered and non-registered sectors. 16 This policy was administered in such a way that based on perceived vulnerability to grow Listeria; Ready-to-Eat foods were divided into an assortment of categories. The presence of L. monocytogenes in Category 1 foods poses the highest-risk. This would typically generate a Health 1 concern, where consumers would be made aware that contact with the food will likely produce severe health consequences. 17 In addition, Canada’s policy indicated that any R.T.E food tainted with Listeria, specifically produced for at risk groups, would be considered a Health 2 concern. This would illustrate that some form of health consequence is expected to result from exposure to the contaminated food, especially if it is a vulnerable group coming into contact with it.

“In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food-borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.”

This is caused by food-borne pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites that can seriously harm or even kill you. Forty cents of every U.S dollar spent on food is for restaurant or prepared foods, which allows for more possibility of consuming cheap foods prepared by inexperienced handlers, posing a greater risk of improper cooking and/or cross contamination of foods. When preparing meals at home you can better control the temperatures when cooking meats, keep hands and countertops clean and properly wash your raw produce.