Food poisoning
A few simple precautions can reduce the risk of food-borne
diseases:
- COOK meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly. Using a
thermometer to measure the internal temperature of meat is a good
way to be sure that it is cooked sufficiently to kill bacteria. For
example, minced beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of
72°C. Eggs should be cooked until the yolk is firm.
- SEPARATE: Don't cross-contaminate one food with
another. Avoid cross-contaminating foods by washing hands,
utensils, and cutting boards after they have been in contact with
raw meat or poultry and before they touch another food. Put cooked
meat on a clean platter, rather than back on the one that held the
raw meat.
- CHILL: Refrigerate leftovers promptly. Bacteria
can grow quickly at room temperature, so refrigerate leftover foods
if they are not going to be eaten within 4 hours. Large volumes of
food will cool more quickly if they are divided into several
shallow containers for refrigeration.
- CLEAN: Wash produce. Rinse fresh fruits and
vegetables in running tap water to remove visible dirt and grime.
Remove and discard the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or
cabbage. Because bacteria can grow well on the cut surface of fruit
or vegetable, be careful not to contaminate these foods while
slicing them up on the cutting board, and avoid leaving cut produce
at room temperature for many hours. Don't be a source of food-borne
illness yourself. Wash your hands with soap and water before
preparing food. Avoid preparing food for others if you yourself
have a diarrhoeal illness. Changing a baby's nappy while preparing
food is a bad idea that can easily spread illness.
- REPORT: Report suspected food-borne illnesses to
your local environmental health department (environmental.health@allerdale.gov.uk).
- The local environmental
health department is an important part of the food safety system.
Often calls from concerned citizens are how outbreaks are first
detected. If an environmental health officer contacts you to find
out more about an illness you had, your co-operation is important.
In environmental health investigations, it can be as important to
talk to healthy people as to ill people. Your co-operation may be
needed even if you are not ill.
For information regarding the different types of food poisoning
see our food poisoning types page.