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August
17, 2006
I woke up in the middle of the night thinking flames were going to shoot out of my stomach and start the sheets on fire. You know when it’s time to stumble quickly to the bathroom. Yes, I was really sick. I will spare you the details. We had just returned from a family vacation and three days of eating food prepared by many different people in various places. Fortunately, my kids and spouse were perfectly fine after our trip. As I lay in misery for the next 24 hours, unable to eat, sit or stand without feeling dizzy, nauseated or worse, I thought about what might have caused my flulike symptoms. Maybe it was the flu. Or maybe it was a foodborne illness. Surely, someone out there wasn’t trying to inspire me to write a column. When you’re confined to a couch watching boring TV shows, your mind thinks strange thoughts. “Let’s contaminate this food and make the food safety columnist sick. Heh. Heh. Maybe she’ll write about it!” No, that was too diabolical. We had been careful with the food we brought. We packed a cooler with ice and our perishable snacks and beverages. We replenished the ice often. I checked out the restaurants where we ate. I took a look at general cleanliness in the facilities as well as among the staff. We ate at reputable places. We washed our hands thoroughly and patiently waited for the hand dryers in the restrooms to dry them. I made sure the food was piping hot when we received it, except, of course, for the salads I was regularly choosing. I wanted to fit into my clothes post-vacation. “Aha, maybe that’s it!” I thought, almost jumping off the couch, but quickly falling back on the pillow, since whatever was bothering me was still residing in my gut. I started playing epidemiologist as I impatiently rested. What was making me sick? Contaminated fresh produce is an increasing cause of concern in the world of food safety. Numerous types of bacteria and viruses can reside on produce. Fruits and vegetables may look clean, but they may harbor some microscopic bugs. Fruits and vegetables contaminated with well-known bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella, have led to foodborne illness outbreaks. My symptoms weren’t consistent with these two bugs. Shigella is a type of bacteria that is a little less familiar to many people. Shigellosis outbreaks have been linked with salad bars, especially to prebagged lettuce salads. One shigellosis outbreak in Texas sickened 5,000 people. Shigella also is linked with other salads (potato, chicken and tuna salad), milk and dairy products and poultry. Shigella often is linked to food handlers who neglect hand washing or with contaminated water supplies used to wash fresh fruits and vegetables. The symptoms of shigellosis, such as abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea, show up anywhere from 12 to 50 hours after consuming the food. Dehydration often occurs. My symptoms weren’t this bad. Maybe my food was contaminated with staphylococcus. It’s a type of bacteria that people can carry on their hands or in nasal passages and not have symptoms. “Staph” causes abdominal pain and vomiting often within six hours of eating the food and lasts about 24 hours. Maybe someone with dirty hands made my salad or another patron touched the fresh fruit I chose at a serve-yourself buffet. Maybe somebody sneezed on my food. I’ll put those thoughts out of my mind now that I have recovered. Please continue to eat fresh produce. I will. Fruits and vegetables are good for you, but you need to handle them safely. Here’s a recipe for a quick and easy veggie dip. Be sure to wash the vegetables thoroughly with plenty of running water. Your cut veggies and dip should spend no more than two hours at room temperature.
### Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Market Advisor: |
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North Dakota State University |
