This NebGuide outlines proper techniques for providing safe food in child care facilities. Sanitizers Children are at high risk for food-borne illnesses. In recent years, reports of food-borne illnesses have made headlines. Most of these outbreaks involved food prepared away from home. Many cases of food-borne illness go unreported because the symptoms are similar to the flu.
Foods contaminated with microorganisms are the cause of food-borne illnesses.
Contaminated food does not, however, always taste bad, smell bad, or look bad. Therefore, it is almost impossible to detect contamination. We refer to foods implicated in food-borne illness outbreaks as potentially hazardous foods. By examining reported food-borne illness outbreaks, we find clues of how microbial contamination occurs. Microorganisms will multiply rapidly in foods left at room temperature for more than 2 hours.