7 symptoms reveal infection with it ... and 5 methods of prevention

"Food Safety" warns of 6 types of "poisoning"

"Food poisoning" is a disease that occurs due to eating contaminated food.

From the source

The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority has warned consumers of the risk of six types of "food poisoning" resulting from eating contaminated and unhealthy food, confirming that there are seven main symptoms for diagnosing food poisoning diseases, the most important of which are high temperature and vomiting.

It also identified five main methods that help prevent food poisoning, including washing hands well before and after preparing food, before and after eating, and not leaving cooked food for more than two hours at room temperature, to prevent the growth and reproduction of microbes.

She stressed the importance of consumer awareness of the factors that cause food poisoning and ways to prevent it, pointing to the economic losses represented in treatment, and the possibility of chronic or dangerous diseases that may lead to death.

In a recent guidebook on "food poisoning", the authority defined the term "food poisoning" as a disease that affects a person or many people, due to eating contaminated food, and symptoms appear on the injured during a period of time ranging from a few hours to days, and may extend For weeks, pointing out that according to the World Health Organization's definition of this situation, they are diseases resulting either from eating food containing harmful microbes (this type is called foodborne diseases resulting from infection), or by eating food contaminated with toxins, either that has been excreted. By the microbes themselves, or as a result of contamination with other toxins (chemical or natural).

The guide explained that the symptoms of food poisoning, its severity, and the period of time required for its appearance, differ according to the causes of poisoning, and the amount of food eaten by the person, stressing that the total injuries consist of seven symptoms, which are: high temperature, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach and intestinal cramps , Body aches, headache.

In some cases of food poisoning, symptoms appear in the form of paralysis of the nervous system, which leads to blurred vision and speech.

The guide identified six basic types of "food poisoning", the first of which is "microbial poisoning or microbial toxins," which is poisoning with microbial infections, or the toxins resulting from them.

The second is "chemical or mineral poisoning", which occurs as a result of storing acidic foods such as fruit juices in containers coated with "cadmium, zinc or lead, or poor quality cooking utensils."

And the third is "poisoning with pesticides", which occurs as a result of eating vegetables or fruits after spraying them with pesticides in large concentrations, and not washing them well, as a metabolism process occurs through household pesticides, as a result of misuse.

It also included the types of food poisoning «poisoning with chemicals and industrial detergents that are used in washing production lines», and it occurs as a result of wrong use, whether through the use of high concentrations of these materials, or lack of good washing after their use, which results in the transfer of chemicals to food.

And «poisoning with food additives such as taste, smell and preservatives», which are added to food with the aim of improving the taste and smell, and increasing their shelf life, bearing in mind that using these materials according to the prescribed proportions does not cause harm to health, but if used in large quantities it may lead to poisoning.

And finally "poisoning by cleaning and sterilization materials" found in the house, stored in a wrong way with food, or as a result of the remnants of these materials on cooking utensils and equipment, due to not washing them well with water and removing their remnants.

The guide touched on what is known as "natural poisoning", which occurs due to the ingestion of natural toxins found in some marine life and plants, such as eating toxic fish or crustaceans, which may have an effect on the human nervous system, while plant toxins occur as a result of eating plant tissues that contain Poisons, such as some poisonous mushrooms.

5 categories

According to the guideline, there are five groups that are at highest risk of developing food poisoning:

- "The elderly", as the efficiency of the immune system in defending the body against microbes decreases with age.

- "Babies and young children", because their immune systems are not fully mature.

- “Patients with chronic diseases,” such as diabetics.

- “People with weakened immune systems.”

Pregnant women.

The guide explained that food poisoning can be avoided by trying to prevent the microbe from reaching food, preventing the growth of the microbe, and eliminating the microbe, specifying five ways to avoid infection, including:

Wash hands well with soap and water before and after preparing food, and before and after eating it.

- Do not leave cooked food for more than two hours at room temperature, to prevent the growth and reproduction of microbes.

It is preferable to consume food after it is finished preparing it.

- If it is to be eaten after a while, it must be kept hot at a temperature of 63 ° C or higher, which is the temperature at which microbial growth stops.

Food must be stored in the refrigerator in containers no more than 10 cm deep, so that the cold reaches all parts of the food.

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