JEDDAH, 20 July — According to the World Health Organization (WHO), contaminated food is a major cause of cholera and other forms of epidemic diarrhoeal diseases which result in some three million deaths each year. To quote a recent WHO report: “Food-borne diseases are one of the major causes of malnutrition. The incidence of certain food-borne diseases, such as salmonellosis, has increased dramatically in recent years.”
At this time of the year, the press always carries stories of people getting sick from contaminated food. The words “food poisoning” jump to mind as a correlative of hot weather and very likely of possible uncleanliness. But how accurate is that link? What is food poisoning and how can we know what food is safe? What precautions can we take to avoid having all these annoying and sometimes serious gastrointestinal problems?
“Food poisoning is a phrase used by people to cover a number of problems. For example, if one family develops certain symptoms, then people start saying the symptoms are those of food poisoning. And that isn’t necessarily so,” states Dr. Tomader S. Kurdi, Head of the Food Safety Program at the Ministry of Health.
There are scientific parameters for classifying cases such as the one above, says Kurdi. Usually food poisoning cases are analyzed as such only if similar complaints occur from people who consumed the same type of food at the same time at the same place.
Complaints are usually dealt with by a three-sided committee from the police, the Ministry of Health and the municipality. If the restaurant is found to be at fault, a fine of SR1,000 per case is requested.
One family’s complaint isn’t usually treated as proof of poisoning. And a diagnosis of food poisoning isn’t made by considering only the last meal eaten. In fact, the last 72 hours before the onset of symptoms have to be investigated. It is thus not that easy to reach a conclusion of food poisoning unless all three elements — time, place and person — are there.
Generally speaking these cases increase in the summer, especially between May and August. There are about 2,400 reported cases in the Kingdom every year and the rate is about the same everywhere. Usually, half of the food poisoning cases occur during the summer. It is established that males have a higher percentage of these infections than females. As Dr. Kurdi observes, this is probably due to social factors in the Kingdom since males are often away from home and eat in many different places. Most of the cases develop from food eaten outside the home though we cannot rule out domestic cases due to unclean food and heat.
Chicken is a main cause of concern in these cases, especially chicken shawarmah, Kurdi points out.
Undercooked meat, eggs and milk are also possible causes of infection. This is why restaurants are not allowed to prepare their own mayonnaise and are required by the municipality to use commercial brands from supermarkets.
The kind of salmonella which exists in chicken normally increases in temperatures ranging from 37 to 47 and it is highly resistant to the outside factors which affect the food. When asked why she stressed the danger of chicken shawarmah in particular, Dr. Kurdi said that the way the shawarmah is prepared makes it easy for bacteria to be active.
The chicken is usually prepared hours before cooking and is left outside for a long time; during cooking the heat does not penetrate all parts of the meat and so bacteria is not killed or eliminated. And, of course, many restaurants put their shawarmah stands outside on the street which is even worse. She suggests that workers in restaurants should be required to take some health awareness courses.
This point of course brings up the fact that in general meats which are served and eaten rare are more liable to be infested with bacteria.
