Essays --

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year roughly one in six Americans (48 million people), 128,000 will end up in the hospital and 3,000 will die of foodborne illness. Three hundred and sixty-five million dollars are spent annually on the Salmonella infection. There are 31 major foodborne pathogens that are known to cause foodborne illnesses. Foodborne illnesses are infections of the gastrointestinal tract caused by food that contains harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses or chemicals. The gastrointestinal tract is a serious of organs joined in a long, twisted tube from the mouth to the anus. The most common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and chills. Some chemicals affect the nervous system causing symptoms such as headache, numbness of the skin, blurring in the vision, weakness of body, dizziness, and paralysis. Most of Foodborne Illnesses happen suddenly and only last a short time, typically lasting one to seven days. A lot of people recover on their own without going to the doctors. But rarely, a foodborne illness may lead to more serious issues to a person such as dehydration, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and chronic including reactive arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome or long lasting health problems. However, there are some people who are most likely to develop foodborne illnesses such as infants, children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with weak immune systems. Raw foods of any animal origin such as raw meat and poultry, raw eggs, unpasteurized milk, and raw shellfish are most likely to be contaminated. Fruits and vegetables can also be contaminated if the fields were fertilized with animal waste and if the produce was cleaned with unclean water. Raw ... ...uch. Foods that need to be cooked should be cooked long enough at a high temperature to kill the harmful bacteria that may be on them. For roast, steaks, and chops of beef, veal, pork, and lamb should be cooked at 145 degrees. For ground beef, veal, pork, and lamb should be cooked at a temperature of 160 degrees. Poultry should be cooked at 165 degrees. Foodborne Illnesses can be prevented easily if you know what to look for and how to prevent it. Reducing the number of infections will require stronger actions to prevent food contamination at multiple steps from the farm to the table. If you reduce foodborne illnesses by 10%, you’ll be saving 5 million Americans each year from getting sick. The Arizona Department of Health Services predict that in year 2020, the Salmonella infection will have dropped by 25% and a 25% to 50% drop in the other top five infections.