Follow these tips to stay safe and avoid salmonella
Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, upset stomach and dehydration are all signs of salmonella. According to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, every year approximately 76 million people get sick from salmonella poisoning. Of those 76 million, 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die. Learn how to stay safe and prevent this from happening to you and your family.
Prevention is the Best Cure
There are two different types of food borne bacteria — spoilage and pathogenic. Spoilage bacteria are responsible for making your food spoil. The second type of bacteria is pathogenic. Salmonella is one of the types of food borne bacteria. Usually found in undercooked poultry or eggs, you also find it in meat, raw milk, juice, cheese, seafood, contaminated fresh fruits and vegetables.
The best possible way to avoid getting sick from salmonella poisoning is to prevent it in the first place. You can do this several ways by following these tips.
*In the store, buy your cold food last to keep it cold as long as possible.
*Don’t buy food past the expiration date.
*Never buy meat in torn packaging.
*Make sure frozen meat is frozen solid or refrigerated meat is cold.
*Don’t buy unrefrigerated fruit and vegetable.
*Prevent cross-contamination by putting all meat in plastic bags. Don’t let juice from raw meats contaminate other foods.
*Refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours after purchase. If the weather is hotter than ninety degrees outside, refrigerate it within 1 hour.
*Store eggs in their store container and store them on a shelf — not in the door.
*Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.
*Use clean cutting boards for preparing meat or poultry. Sanitize your cutting boards regularly with 1 tablespoon of bleach per 1 gallon of water.
*Cook meat and eggs completely to kill any bacteria.
Symptoms of Salmonella
How do you know if you have salmonella poisoning? You usually know by the symptoms of stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, chills, fever, and headache. These symptoms appear anywhere from 8 to 72 hours after eating the infected food and can last from 4 to 7 days. More severe illness develops if the infection spreads from the intestines to the bloodstream.
Salmonella poisoning isn’t fun for anyone but healthy people survive it. The people at risk are the very young, the elderly, pregnant women, unborn babies, and people with weak immune systems.
If you feel you have salmonella poisoning and the conditions become severe, call your doctor. Conditions are severe when you have bloody diarrhea, excess nausea and vomiting or a very high fever. Seeing your doctor is the best way to avoid complications and report the poisoning.
It’s important to be able to recognize poisoning from salmonella bacteria and to know when to see your doctor. But the most important thing to remember is to avoid salmonella in the first place. You can easily avoid salmonella by following the tips in this article. Be diligent about following these tips and stay safe.