Is food poisoning an age-old problem, or the result of modern day practices? Essity looks at the history of food poisoning and considers a few simple steps that could help prevent it.
The
poisoned chalice
Last summer, various frozen vegetable products were recalled by supermarkets across Europe following a major listeria outbreak
that resulted in the deaths of nine people across the continent.
In October 2018, the Food Standards Agency reminded the
British public to avoid eating pink lamb after 165 people fell ill with salmonella contracted from contaminated meat. And in November, US health officials warned the American public to avoid eating romaine lettuce after an E. coli outbreak caused 32 people across 11 states to fall ill.
These are just a few examples of the many food poisoning outbreaks that occur worldwide each year. Food
poisoning causes misery and death – and also costs billions in product wastage, recalls and brand erosion. But is it a new phenomenon?
It is certainly true that food manufacture and distribution processes have changed dramatically in relatively recent times. Instead of producing our own foods or buying them from neighbouring farms we now have a globalised food industry.
Much of what we eat today is processed industrially and sold in supermarkets or multinational food outlets. This has helped to reduce the cost of foodstuffs while increasing the variety of food on our plates. But on the down side, globalising the industry has provided the potential for foodborne pathogens to infect large numbers of consumers across different countries. For example, the European listeria outbreak mentioned at the start of this article was traced back to a single frozen food factory in Hungary.
However, there is nothing new about food poisoning. The link between acute gastric illness and organisms originating from food was first identified in the late 19th century. Before that, doctors were more focused on deadlier diseases such as typhoid, tuberculosis, smallpox and cholera which were resulting in frequent epidemics and deaths.
But when these diseases began to decline, food poisoning became an increasing worry and medical chiefs sought to extend their knowledge of the condition. So, the UK health authorities began to raise public awareness of the need to regulate and improve food handling practices. And they were certainly in need of improvement.
Around one-fifth of British meat in the 1860's was 40 | FOOD HYGIENE & STEAM CLEANING
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