The ABCs of foodborne illnesses

Foodborne Illnesses (FBD) are serious things.   They can bring many health complications, and even in certain cases, death. There are many precautions that we can all take, such as following strict hygiene for everything we are going to eat. Today we are going to review specific information about these diseases so that you know what to take better care of yourself 🙂 To begin with, the foods that have most commonly been seen to transmit some type of disease are of animal origin. Products such as beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and even dairy products were responsible for 48% of the epidemics that occurred in the USA between 1973 and 1987. And yes, it was a long time ago, regulations have been improved, but they are still foods whose quality we cannot stop reviewing (origin, hygiene, expiration date, etc.) FBDs are classified as: infections, poisonings or toxin-mediated infections. For a disease to truly affect us, the infection not only needs to exist in food:

• The pathogen must be in the food in sufficient quantities to cause harm.
• The food must have the necessary characteristics to favor the development of the infection or disease.
• The food must also be at the adequate temperature, for enough time for the disease to multiply and/or produce toxin.
• Then, you must eat a sufficient amount for the disease to overcome your defense barrier. This makes us think that perhaps complete cleaning of the food does not exist, because if all these conditions are not present, even if the pathogen exists in our food, it may not harm us. But trusting us would be a mistake. We always have to take care of what we buy, where we buy it, how we wash it, how we preserve it and even how we cook it.