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Food Borne Illnesses

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Foodborne illnesses can come from a variety of sources. Foodborne illnesses are very common and are preventable. There is usually no one specific symptom of a foodborne illness, diarrhea, nausea , vomiting and abdominal cramps are the most common symptoms seen when a person has been exposed to a foodborne pathogen. Poor hand hygiene , poor sanitary conditions in the kitchen, not following the recommended guidelines for proper cooking temperatures of foods, and not washing foods before consumption are a few of the causes of foodborne illnesses.
The United States treats about 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses a year according to the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (2016). The FDA (2016) has four safe food handling interventions for public: 1. Clean: Wash hands and surfaces often 2. Separate: Raw meat from other foods 3. Cook: Cook to the right temperature 4. Chill: Refrigerate foods promptly
There are several other interventions that may need to be incorporated to protect the public. Making it mandatory that all food service workers, butchers etc were gloves. Increasing the amount of inspections from the FDA in grocery stores, food service establishments, slaughter houses etc to hopefully decrease the amount of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses by identifying potential issues before they reach the public. Continue to educate the public on food-borne illnesses and ways to prevent them. Many agencies monitor and address compliance when it comes to foodborne illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2015) is responsible for “protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation”. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2011) is responsible for the Food Safety and Modernization Act. The CDC (2011) was tasked with creating a plan that would “increase overall capabilities and provide new opportunities for detecting more problems sooner, responding to them faster and more efficiently, monitoring the effectiveness of interventions to prevent foodborne illness, and providing data to guide food safety policy”. The Public health departments monitor foodborne illnesses outbreaks in their communities. Several strategies have been implemented to keep the public safe from foodborne illnesses. The FDA (2016) has the four recommended guidelines stated above to protect the public from foodborne illness both nationally and locally. The CDC (2011) implemented the Food Safety and Modernization Act which helped to detect and respond to outbreaks sooner, create better collection, analysis reporting and data systems on a global, national and local level.

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