If you’ve ever gotten sick after eating something, you might claim to have food poisoning—which is possible. But it’s more likely that you are suffering from a foodborne infection. While the symptoms can be similar, the causes are different. There are actually three primary types of food contamination hazards that can make you sick, including: Biological, Physical, and Chemical contamination. You’re most likely to suffer from a foodborne illness due to biological contamination.
Biological
Around 99 % of all bacteria pose absolutely no threat to your health. In fact, many types of bacteria are essential for human life and health. You’ve probably heard of some of them, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, the stuff that give yogurt that special tang, and helps to keep you ‘regular.’ But the bad bacteria can be particularly nasty. Approximately 60 percent of foodborne illnesses resulting in hospitalization in the U.S. are attributed to bacterial contamination.
Physical
A physical food contaminant might not make you sick, but it can still be hazardous to your health. A physical food hazard is any foreign matter in the food, whether unintentionally introduced to food or a naturally occurring object which didn’t get removed from the food, which could cause illness or injury to the person eating it. This includes the hair in your soup, or the tiny rock in your salad that could break your tooth if you chomp down on it, or even a bone in your fish than might become lodged in your throat if you’re not careful.
Chemical
It’s hard to completely eliminate chemicals from the food supply. Many potentially harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides, are regulated by such government agencies as the FDA and USDA. But there are plenty of other chemicals that can contaminate the food you eat, that you might not even think about. For example, the cleaning products you use to clean your food preparation surface and eating utensils, if not properly washed off, removed, or neutralized, can contaminate foods they come into contact with. There are a wide variety of chemicals used in food processing. Like bacteria, some have no impact on human health, some are beneficial, and others are harmful.
Biological, physical, and chemical contamination isn’t just limited to restaurants. Anyone who handles food, whether professionally or at home, can spread a foodborne illness. And anyone who consumes contaminated food can contract a foodborne illness. Whether you work in the food service industry, or just want to know more about safe food handling procedures when you are preparing food at home for your family, FoodHandlerClasses.com provides safe food handler training via an online learning environment with integrated exam platform, which is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Food Handler Classes is available in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. For more information visit https://www.foodhandlerclasses.com.