However, in the past several years a disturbing number of incidents relating to contaminated food products point out that our faith may be misplaced. Contaminated fruits have arrived from South America, chickens in the Eastern United States now carry salmonella throughout their systems and slaughterhouse practices expose most of our meats to contamination from animal feces. Many times we will eat contaminated foods without knowing it and simply describe our associated illnesses as the stomach flu. Most normally healthy adults will experience nausea and diarrhea. Our children, elderly family members and those with long term or chronic illnesses may not be so lucky.
Food borne illness can pose a serious threat to weaker individuals.
After all, it was just an isolated incident at a few restaurants where they didn't cook the food properly. One of the largest breeding grounds for food borne bacteria and viruses is your own kitchen. As the holiday season enters full swing with parties, large family meals and lots of food and goodies, we need to be especially careful how we handle, prepare and store foods. Two additional external factors also impact the growth of microorganisms. These are the availability of oxygen and storage temperature.