Food Poisoning Basics for Food and Beverage Procurement Professionals

February 15th, 2010

I was stuck at a major hotel chain last week with all the bad weather and got some pretty serious food poisoning when I ordered room service.

This author has posted about this subject before during discussions about food contamination, e.coli, salmonella and other related subjects. What bothered me was the response I got from the hotel which has become too typical for organizations when a consumer complains was. ?Not us not here?.

I called the front desk to ask if my stay could be extended as I was in no shape to travel let alone be talking on the phone. I was immediately transferred to the head of the food and beverage department. After a brief but polite description of my condition I was lectured that it could not have happened here. I was the led down the path of we check our batch numbers regularly etc. and after all food poisoning can not take place in as little as four hours.

We discussed who I was and SafeSourcing to which I was told he had read my blog before. I said since that is the case please read my Monday post and I will bring you up to speed as to what you need to know about food poisoning and its potential severity and that it did not mean he had bought tainted products or even had poor food preparation practices. So here you go and if you have any further questions please give me a call.

By the way thanks for comping the extra night.

According to emedicinehealth.com Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes deadly illness. Symptoms of food poisoning depend on the type of contaminant and the amount eaten. The symptoms can develop rapidly, within 30 minutes, or slowly, worsening over days to weeks. Most of the common contaminants cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping. Usually food poisoning is not serious, and the illness runs its course in 24-48 hours.

Viruses account for most food poisoning cases where a specific contaminant is found but ?there are many many causes that all food workers should be aware of and it is much ?more than just e.coli and salmonella which get most of the press. So according to ?emedicinehealth.com there are many other causes and here are 20 of them.
1.?Noroviruses.
2.?Rotavirus
3.?Hepatitis A
4.?Bacteria
5.?Salmonellae:
6.?Campylobacter
7.?Staphylococcus aureus
8.?Bacillus cereu
9.?Escherichia coli (E coli)
10.?Shigella (traveler?s diarrhea)
11.?Clostridium botulinum
12.?Vibrio cholerae
13.?Parasites.
14.?Giardia (beaver fever)
15.?Cryptosporidium
16.?Toxic agents
17.?Mushroom toxins
18.?Ciguatera poisoning
19.?Scombroid
20.?Pesticides

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