Food poisoning is an infection or irritation of the digestive system that propagates Through food or drinks. Food poisoning is usually acute, and most people improve without treatment. In some cases, it can cause serious complications, such as dehydration.
Common symptoms of many types of food poisoning include diarrhea or diarrhea with blood, vomiting, abdomen pain, fever and headache. Virus infections, bacteria and parasites They cause most food poisoning. Harmful chemicals also cause some cases of food poisoning.
Experts recommend what to do in four steps to avoid food poisoning:
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1. Clean: Wash your hands and clean the surfaces frequently
• Microbios that cause food poisoning can survive in many places and spread in the kitchen.
• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with warm or cold water and soap before preparing food and Before eating.
• Always wash your hands after touching meat, chicken and other birds, fish, shellfish, flour or uncooked eggs.
• Wash the utensils, cutting boards and mesons with hot soap after preparing each type of food.
• Wash fresh fruits and vegetables with running water.
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2. Separate: Avoid cross contamination
• Meat, chicken and other birds, fish and shellfish and raw eggs can spread microbes to foods that are ready to consume, unless they keep them separate.
• When you buy the supermarket, keep the meat, birds and fish and raw shellfish and their juices separate from other foods.
• Keep meat, birds, fish, shellfish and raw eggs or that are marrying separately from all other foods in the refrigerator.
• Save meat, birds, fish and raw shellfish in sealed containers or packages to prevent juices from filtering and reaching other foods.
• Use a plate or cutting table for meat, birds, fish and raw shellfish and another different plate or table for fruits and vegetables, bread and other foods that will not be cooked.
• Raw chicken is ready to cook and does not need to wash first. Washing these foods can spread microbes to other foods, the sink and the inn and make you get sick.
• If you decide to wash the chicken, do it as safely as possible.
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3. Cook until reaching the correct temperature
• Food are cooked safely when the internal temperature is high enough to kill the microbes that can make you get sick.
• The only way to know if food is properly cooked is to use a food thermometer. You cannot know if food is cooked safely by looking at their color and texture, except if they are fish or seafood
• Use a food thermometer to make sure they cook until they reach an internal temperature that is safe. Learn how to place the thermometer in the right way
• whole cuts of meat, veal, lamb and pork, including fresh ham: 145 ° F (then let stand 3 minutes before cutting or eating)
• Fish with fins: 145 ° F or until the meat becomes opaque and easily separates with a fork
• Ground meat, such as beef and pork: 160 ° F
• All types of bird, including chicken and ground turkey meat: 165 ° F
• Sobras and stews: 165 ° F
• Check this picture to see a detailed list of temperatures and food, including shellfish and precooked ham.
• Cook food in the microwave until they are well cooked: follow the recommended cooking and rest times. Let food rest For a few minutes after cooking in the microwave, it allows the cold parts to absorb the heat of the hottest parts and to be cooked more completely.
• Know the microwave voltage
See the door interior, the owner’s manual or the manufacturer’s website. If your microwave has a high power (800 watts or more), use the recommended minimum cooking time. If you have a low power (300 to 500 watts)use the recommended maximum cooking time.
Look at the inside of the door, the user manual or the manufacturer’s website. If your microwave is high voltage (800 watts or more), use the minimum recommended cooking time. If it is low voltage (between 300 and 500 watts), use the maximum recommended cooking time.
• When you rehend, use a food thermometer to ensure that what it put in the microwave has reached a temperature of 165 ° F.
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4. Cool: quickly refrigerate
• Bacteria can multiply quickly if food is left at room temperature or in the “danger zone” between 40 ° F and 140 ° F. Never leave perishable food outside the refrigerator for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if they are exposed to temperatures greater than 90 of).
• Keep your refrigerator at 40 ºF or less and your freezer at 0 ºF or less, and know when to discard food before they spoiled. If your refrigerator does not have a built -in thermometer, keep a thermometer for appliances inside to verify the temperature.
• Put the warm or hot foods in several light shallow containers and then refrigerate them. It’s okay to put small portions of hot foods in the refrigerator as they will cool faster.
• Refrigerate perishable foods (meats, fish, shellfish, dairy, cut fruit, some cooked vegetables) before 2 hours pass. If food is exposed to temperatures greater than 90 ° F, for example, in a hot car or during a Picnic, refrigerate them before it passes 1 hour.
• Defrose safely the frozen foods putting them in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Never defrose food on the table because bacteria multiply rapidly in the parts of foods that reach ambient temperature.
In most cases, Intoxication can be treated by food replacing lost liquids and electrolytes to prevent dehydration. In other cases, free or prescription medications could help.
(With CDC information)
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