Food safety awareness crucial in preventing food poisoning

Volunteers from King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) have launched a public awareness campaign on food safety, particularly with increasing incidence of food poisoning cases in Jeddah.
Sahar Mubark Al-Hamdi from KAMC told Arab News that they had put up an educational section about food hazards and food safety at a recent forum to bring about public awareness.
She said that though there were no concrete statistics available, the fact that in just one month, around 60 to 70 food poisoning cases were registered with KAMC indicates the importance of food safety.
“Food poisoning cases are higher among pregnant women, children and elderly people, with most of them suffering from diarrhea, stomach ache and anemia, which are mainly related to food poisoning and malnutrition,” she said.
“A lot of people have been coming to the hospital with these symptoms, without realizing that they are caused by malnutrition or food contamination,” she pointed out, adding that people eating out or taking stale food become victims of food poisoning.
“There is a serious need to spread awareness about food safety and bacteria,” she said.
She said that through their food safety campaign, they were trying to disseminate information about healthy food and right temperature for storing them which is very important as dangerous bacteria grow at certain temperatures.
“Food stored at above -4º Celsius and below 60º is always in the danger zone where bacteria can grow very fast. Certain food needs to be stored at a certain temperature, especially milk, yoghurt and almost all dairy products. Keeping milk in a cup for three hours out of fridge is not a healthy practice since milk is a very prominent source for bacteria to grow quickly,” she said, adding that the same is the case with other food.
Stating that there was a systematic program in the medical city for patients called international food management and organization system, Al-Hamdi said: “People don’t know that they should cook food till certain temperature as chicken and meat need to be cooked at 73.88º C to prevent growth of bacteria.”
“Pizza needs to be cooked at 71.1º C, and if we don’t cook food properly, there is the danger of bacteria growing and spread of disease consequently. Even after cooking, if we don’t take care of the food and leave it open, it can cause problems. It’s very important to keep our food covered and check it before eating, besides keeping it on dry and cool place, as moisture in the air or heat can make it stale which in turn helps growth of bacteria,” she explained.