Consuming contaminated food usually cause illness within a period of several hours to few days or weeks after eating. Though most people recover from a food-borne illness within a short period, some people, especially children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems (such as individuals with HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer) develop chronic, severe, and life-threatening health problems.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), millions of people worldwide become ill and thousands die from PREVENTABLE food-borne illness annually.
Preventive measures recommended by WHO include keeping food clean, separating raw and cooked foods, keeping/storing food at safe temperatures, and using safe water and raw materials.
Recommended food safety tips include:
PREPARE right!
- When preparing any fresh produce, begin with clean hands. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap under running-water, especially after visiting the lavatory.
- Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not replacement for hand-washing; they are not effective if the hands are dirty, and do not eliminate all types of microorganisms.
- Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with soap and warm water between preparing raw meat, poultry, and seafood (fish or shrimp).
- If possible, use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry, and seafood. Otherwise, wash cutting boards with warm soapy water after preparing each food item and before you use it for the next food.
- Wash all produce thoroughly under running water before preparing and/or eating, including produce grown at home. Even if you do not plan to eat the skin, it is still important to wash produce first so dirt and germs are not transferred from the surface when peeling or cutting the produce.
- Washing certain fruits or vegetables with dish soaps or detergent is not highly recommended because they can get trapped or absorbed by pores on the foodstuffs, becoming difficult to rinse off. Consuming such foodstuffs may come with adverse health effects.
- Cook foods thoroughly, especially meat and poultry products, for the appropriate length of time, at the appropriate temperature to kill/deactivate germs.
- Use safe water and safe raw materials to prepare food.
- To guarantee safety, discard moldy and rotten foodstuffs, to avoid consuming toxin-contaminated food.
By KNOWING, changing our ATTITUDES and PRACTICING food safety preventive measures, we can evade food-borne illness, protecting ourselves and families.
