I am over 8 thousand cases of poisoning every year in Italy, with salmonella in first place (3,300 cases), followed by Campylobacter infections (1,500) while rarer, but particularly insidious, is that of toxin-producing Escherichia coli (118 cases). Numbers that remind us that “food safety is very important for our health: we eat at least 3 meals a day and maximum attention to this issue is therefore fundamental, considering the frequency of the risk”, explains Marco Silano to Adnkronos Salute, nutrition expert and director of the Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-Metabolic and Aging Diseases of the Higher Institute of Health, on the occasion of World Food Safety Day, which is celebrated today.
“When we eat foods – he continues – they are processed at the gastrointestinal level and reach the intestinal mucosa which absorbs nutrients, but not only that. Microorganisms can also find an ideal environment to develop and, in some cases, produce toxins that have an impact on health “.
Salmonella, where it is found
As regards salmonella, the most common bacterium in toxic infections, the foods most at risk are: raw (or undercooked) eggs and egg-based derivatives, raw milk and raw milk derivatives (including powdered milk), meat and derivatives (especially if undercooked), sauces and salad dressings, dessert preparations, creams, ice cream, fruit and vegetables contaminated during cutting.
Also at risk of contamination are surfaces and utensils, and any food handled by infected people, with little attention to personal hygiene. Campylobacter infections linked to the consumption of contaminated water or milk and risky foods consumed raw are also very widespread.
As regards theEscherichia colithe problem “is linked to strains capable of producing toxins which can have more impactful consequences for health, in particular for fragile subjects”, adds the expert.
How to avoid it
The first rule of prevention is to avoid raw foods. “It is of great importance – recommends Silano – to cook food very well, not only on the surface, but also inside, especially meat. Cooking at 100 degrees reduces the microbial load”. Great care must be taken to avoid contact between raw and cooked foods: “The same cutting surfaces should not be used, nor should the same utensils be used. And hands must be washed with soap after handling the meat: preparing the chicken with maximum hygiene and then touching the salad after quickly rinsing your hands does not eliminate the risk.”
A common mistake “is to wash the meat before cooking it: it is useless because it is cooking that eliminates the bathatric charge. Washing it, however, contaminates the surfaces. Another mistake is not paying attention to the taps. If you wash your hands, fine and with soap, after touching the meat, but then touching the tap again, the risk remains. It is no coincidence that in restaurants, where the preparations are professional, the water is turned on by pedal”.
Finally, never forget the cold chain “for all the foods that require it, especially now that the hottest days are starting. Pay attention when transporting your shopping and immediately placing the foods at risk in the right compartments of the fridge”, concludes the expert of the ISS.
Watch out for the buffet and ‘all you can eat’
“It will always be necessary to remember safety when summer occasions find us in the middle of a buffet laid out for an aperitif or for an after-dinner, or for the classic refreshments in a ceremony, or for a table set up in an ‘all you can eat’ place. It is precisely then that, putting aside the idea of ’how much’ to fill the plate, we should focus on the dominant thought of ‘how’ to fill it”, underlines Mauro Minelli, immunologist. and professor of Fundamentals of dietetics and nutrition at Lum University.
“Yes, because, in the absence of even just one of the few but indispensable basic rules of hygiene – warns Minelli – those tempting dishes prepared in series can become a subtle, albeit appetizing, source of ‘food illnesses’, with prevalent gastrointestinal disorders marked by vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sometimes even fever. Specifically, uncontrolled bacterial growth – and therefore risky for the consumer – can easily occur with dairy products made from unpasteurised milk, as well as with meat served cold after having been cooked. moist sauces or even with raw or undercooked meats. Speaking of raw foods, in addition to the well-known risk of anisakis simplex parasitosis related to the intake of fish that has not been properly chilled, it should also be remembered that raw fish, when not properly cleaned, gutted and preserved, it can become a vehicle for bacterial infections”.
“When faced with a buffet, particular attention should also be paid to those dishes prepared with eggs and derivatives or with mayonnaise which, if exposed for more than a few hours at a temperature above 5 degrees centigrade, will soon become, for some unwary consumers, a cause of possible ‘visceral embarrassment’. Unfortunately, it is not easy to discriminate the quality of food simply by looking at it, but the colour, the smell and the first flavor immediately evoked by eating a food can represent important guiding elements for a wise choice”, concludes the expert.
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