With the enormous shift that Americans have made from an agrarian culture, where food travelled literally from the land to the table, to a culture that relies on primarily processed foods, it is no wonder that food borne illnesses are a concern, said Cheryl Randolph, RN, MSN, CCRN, CPEN, FNP-BC. In her Friday presentation, “Are You Going to Eat That? The Dangers of Food Poisoning in a Modern World,” Randolph pointed out that Americans have left food safety responsibilities in the hands of large companies which value corporate profits first.
Food borne illness is very common, and pathogens have evolved to become quite dangerous, noted Randolph. The speed with which food is processed and distributed results in food landing on our tables before the pathogen is even discovered. The globalization of food processors and distributors means that fewer companies are in control, so if one has a contamination or illness, it is passed on to more consumers.
Common industrial food production procedures include meat recovery, in which nothing is wasted when making ground meat product, said Randolph. A recent study found that a single four-ounce hamburger contained DNA from 55 different animals, she said. The practice of adding large doses of antibiotics to animal feed has produced larger animals and litters but added to the problem of antibiotic resistance in the humans who eat the animals.
Randolph discussed the three most common food borne pathogens—E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter—and the symptoms and treatments for each. Patients who die of E. coli die from an overwhelming systemic infection, and the pathogen can also cause acute renal failure. Approximately 400 people die from salmonella poisoning each year, and the elderly and children are most susceptible to the severe dehydration and sepsis caused by the pathogen. Campylobacter is the most common bacterial infection, and 80 percent of supermarket chickens are infected before you bring them home.
“Understand it and appreciate it,” advised Randolph. “Wash your chicken and don’t cross-contaminate.”
A.C.A.