© 2024 KRCU Public Radio
90.9 Cape Girardeau | 88.9-HD Ste. Genevieve | 88.7 Poplar Bluff
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
With some questionable health advice being posted by your friends on Facebook, politicians arguing about the state of the American healthcare system and a new medical study being summarized in just a sentence or two on TV---that seems to contradict the study you heard summarized yesterday---it can be overwhelming to navigate the ever-changing landscape of health news.

To Your Health: Summer Food Safety

 

Erma Bombeck once said, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”

Did the potato salad get iffy at your celebration yesterday? Are you paying the price in the bathroom today?  Hot weather and outdoor dining can be a recipe for food poisoning, which is defined by the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health as a condition caused by ingesting bacteria, parasites or toxins.

 

Most food poisoning, which manifests as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea within a few hours of eating contaminated food, makes people miserable ---as one victim put it, “first you’re afraid you’re going to die and then after a couple of hours you’re afraid you won’t.” However, according to the Mayo Clinic, unless people become dehydrated, there is rarely a need to seek medical attention. The exceptions to this are cases involving listeria or e.coli. Listeria can negatively affect unborn children and e.coli can damage the lining of tiny blood vessels in the kidneys, leading to kidney failure.

 

To avoid food poisoning, the Food Safety site from the Department of Health and Human Services encourages people to remember four simple steps: clean , separate , cook  and chill).

 

Resources:
https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/index.html
https://www.livestrong.com/article/173472-mayonnaise-food-poisoning/

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/the-most-common-sources-of-food-poisoning/386570/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes/syc-20356230

https://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/Consumers/ucm109899.htm

Dr. Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs is an assistant professor in the Department of Leadership, Middle & Secondary Education. She writes for special publications of The Southeast Missourian and is a certified Community Health Worker.
Related Content