Kitchen Hygiene: Know Your Enemy

Campylobacter
If you have a bug in your kitchen (and you have!) this is it. I’m grateful to the UK’s FoodLink organization for the following quote:

“Campylobacter is a microbe that causes food poisoning. It can be found in raw poultry and meat, unpasteurised milk, and untreated water. Pasteurised milk can be contaminated by birds pecking bottle tops on the doorstep. Pets with diarrhoea can also be a source of infection. Campylobacter is the most common identified cause of food poisoning.”

Notice in particular the reference to raw meat and poultry. I doubt you eat much of that in the course of a year, do you? The problem is that, unless you are a vegetarian, you handle it, store it in the ‘fridge and prepare it on your work surfaces. We’ll deal with all of that a bit later when we discuss ‘cross-contamination’.

For the moment, just be aware that you don’t need a whole lot of this baby to give you problems such as fever, headache, stomach pain and the runs. It also has a nasty habit of recurring just when you thought you’d got rid of it. It can take up to 10 days to make itself known, which is worth bearing in mind the next time you get struck by that ‘mystery’ bug. It is destroyed by thorough cooking at temperatures over 63°C,145°F.

Salmonella
Okay vegetarians, this is where you get yours!

You see, Sal gets about and his turf includes raw, unwashed vegetables as well as all the usual haunts of campylobacter. That’s because he lives in the gut and droppings of animals as well as humans, so anything that grows in the great outdoors is likely to get contaminated. He’s also one tough cookie. You need to be aware of two things about him that are important.

The first is that refrigeration does not kill him (although it does stop him reproducing), and the second is that it takes thorough cooking to finish him off.

Take him seriously. He’s a killer.

His symptoms such as fever, headache, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea usually develop within 48 hours and can last up to three weeks. This is one mean guest that you need to evict as quickly as possible. Because he will show up some time and that’s a fact.

Staphylococcus aureus
Big name for such a little bug!

The problem with Staph is that, like taxes, she is always with us. On our skin, in cuts and boils and up our nose. She is readily transferred to our food from our hands or droplets from the nose or mouth. See, Grandma was right, coughs and sneezes do spread diseases.

Which is why the most common cause of infection is from already cooked foods that are handled during preparation and then eaten without further cooking.

Staph herself is pretty harmless and it takes a lot of her before the real villain appears. You see, in great numbers she produces a toxin (poison) and it’s that which does the damage. Unfortunately, although cooking kills Staph, it doesn’t always destroy the toxin. Which is why basic hygiene in the kitchen is so important.

Clostridium perfringens
This little beauty lives in the soil, animal manure, sewage and is often found on raw meat and poultry. Which means that just about any raw food can be contaminated and it is particularly important to wash soil-grown vegetables before you peel and prepare them.

Clo has a real neat little survival trick too. She produces spores that may survive being cooked. Then, as the food cools down, the spores germinate and produce bugs which rapidly multiply.

Be very wary of gravy, pies and other meat products that are not reheated to at least 63°C/145°F before you eat them – and never keep food that has been hanging around for over 2 hours at room temperature.

Bacillus cereus
Or ‘very cereus’!

Bacil could be Clo’s brother and a cousin to Staph. He too produces spores which survive cooking and then germinate as the food cools down. The resulting bugs then produce a toxin which is not destroyed by heat. Nasty!

And this is where he lives: rice dishes, occasionally pasta, meat or vegetable dishes, dairy products, soups, sauces and sweet pastry products. Is nothing safe?

It may come as a surprise to you to learn that rice and pasta can be a source of food poisoning, but they can. Often it’s because these dishes are kept warm over considerable periods of time.

Bacil attacks in two ways. The result may be diarrhoea within 8 to 16 hours, or vomiting within 1 to 5 hours. These attacks usually last for no more than 24 hours.

E.coli
This is the name of a wide variety of bugs, not all of which are harmful, that are carried in the gut of humans and animals, including your much-loved pets. The most common outcome of infection is diarrhoea that usually clears up reasonably quickly.

However the very young and elderly may be at greater risk, with infection leading to kidney failure and sometimes death. Be very concerned about heavy diarrhoea in these age groups, particularly if bloodstained.