Food poisoning comes from eating food or drinking
water that is the contaminated with a virus, bacterium,
parasite, or chemical that causes illness. It is also
called gastroenteritis.
Most food poisoning is unpleasant but not severe
enough to require professional medical treatment.
However, the economic impact of food poisoning is
substantial.
Animal products cause the majority
of food poisonings. They can become contaminated
during slaughter, processing, transport, storage, or
preparation. A vegetarian diet, however, does not protect
a person from food poisoning. Fruits and vegetables
can be contaminated in the fields from animal feces
or pesticides, as well as during harvesting, processing,
distribution, and storage.
The CDC estimates that
about 97%of all food poisoning comes from improper
food handling. Of that, 80%occurs fromfood prepared
in businesses (e.g. restaurants or work cafeterias) or
institutions (e.g. schools or jails). The remaining 20%
occurs from food prepared at home.
In the twenty-first
century, American bioterrorism experts have become
increasingly concerned that a disease-causing organism
could intentionally be introduced into the food or water
supply to cause a mass outbreak of food poisoning
illness.
The CDC estimates that about 76 million cases of
food poisoning occur in the United States each year.
The specific organism causing the disease is identified
in only about 14 million cases.
Most cases of food
poisoning are mild, but about 325,000 individuals are
hospitalized for food poisoning each year in the
United States, and about 5,000 die.
Internationally,
food poisoning is about five times more common in
developing countries than in the United States and
Europe. In underdeveloped countries where contaminated
water supplies are common and refrigeration is
rare, foodborne illnesses may cause a billion illnesses
and 4–6 million deaths each year.
