how to prevent food poisoning essay

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How to Prevent Food Poisoning

Following some simple guidelines can help you steer clear of the common causes of foodborne illnesses.  

Contributor

Ruth Y Liu, M.D.

Sutter Medical Foundation

A sudden and strong onset of symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and overall weakness often indicate a case of foodborne illness. Every year roughly 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses, resulting in more than 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also referred to as food poisoning, common sources of foodborne illnesses include bacteria, viruses, toxins and parasites. There are more than 250 different types of foodborne diseases, but some of the most prevalent ones are E. coli, botulism, salmonella, listeria, norovirus and shigella. Each can cause extreme discomfort, with more serious cases necessitating treatment at a hospital.

Fortunately, says Ruth Liu, M.D., a family medicine doctor with the Sutter Medical Foundation, people can take steps to prevent the likelihood of contracting one of these diseases. Whether at a picnic or eating at a restaurant, it’s important to be aware of what foods are on the table, how the food items are prepared and how leftovers are stored.

“It seems that food recalls are always in the news, so you can never be too careful with the items you choose to eat,” Dr. Liu says. “Following a few simple precautions may decrease the ability of foodborne illnesses to inhibit your daily activities.”

A clean kitchen and clean hands can keep illness-causing bacteria and viruses at bay. Hand washing is especially important before, during and after preparing food, as well as before consuming meals. Make sure to wash hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.

Dr. Liu says thoroughly cleaning kitchen surfaces, utensils, cutting boards and dishcloths before coming into contact with any food is especially important.

“To do this, mix one teaspoon of household bleach with 1 gallon of water. Place the solution in a spray bottle and use with a sponge or paper towel to sanitize surfaces,” she says.

Rinsing fruits and vegetables with water and scrubbing them with a produce brush can also help eliminate harmful bacteria. Dr. Liu says it’s a good idea to remove the outer leaves of vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage before eating. However, avoid the temptation to wash meat, poultry or eggs as this can actually help bacteria spread to other surfaces.

Avoid Cross-Contamination

Don’t use the same plates and utensils for cooked and raw foods. Putting a piece of cooked chicken back on the plate it was defrosted on is a recipe for a salmonella infection. Always thoroughly wash plates, utensils, cutting boards and serving dishes before using them again. Consider using separate designated cutting boards for produce and meat products, as bacteria can live in the porous grooves of some plastic and wooden cutting boards.

Be Careful With Raw Foods

Raw meat, poultry, eggs, fish, shellfish and unpasteurized dairy products can easily harbor stomach-churning contaminants. Think twice before eating raw oysters, sushi, unpasteurized juices, steak tartare and cookie dough with raw egg products. If these are some of your favorite foods, at least make sure they are prepared in a sterile environment by a trusted chef. 

Defrost Meat Safely

Leaving a frozen package of meat or poultry out on the counter all day long is not a safe method for defrosting dinner. Neither is using hot water to quickly thaw frozen meats. When food becomes warmer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, bacteria quickly begins to multiply. The best ways to thaw frozen foods are to utilize the refrigerator, cold water or a microwave.

Make it a point to plan ahead when defrosting meat in the refrigerator, as it often takes a day or more to thaw out. While time-consuming, this is a tried and true way to keep food safe. For the cold water method, place frozen food in a plastic bag and submerge in cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes until the food has thawed. When defrosting food in a microwave, it’s important to cook the food immediately once thawed. Partially-warmed meat is a siren song for bacteria.

Cook Proteins Thoroughly

Color and texture can help indicate when food is cooked thoroughly, but there’s no way to ensure safety without first checking the temperature. The United States Department of Agriculture offers specific temperature recommendations for various foods. Stick a food thermometer into the thickest part of the food to ensure it has reached a temperature hot enough to kill bacteria.

• Whole cuts of pork, beef, veal and lamb should be cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by a three-minute rest period before carving.
• Ground meats should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
• All cuts of poultry, including ground turkey, should be cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Fish should be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Monitor Food Temperature

When serving food or attending a potluck, it’s important that cooked foods are kept hot and chilled foods are kept cold. This may seem like a no-brainer, but we’ve all been to a barbecue where food sat out for hours on end. Minimize this problem by using warming trays and ice baths.

Dr. Liu says bacteria thrive in warm, moist environments, so leaving food out too long can turn everyone’s favorite potato salad into a bacterial Petri dish. If leftovers aren’t properly stored in a refrigerator within two hours, she says it’s time to toss any remaining food in the trash.

“Leaving food on the serving table or not putting away leftovers in a timely manner opens the door to dangerous microbes that can start growing after only two hours at room temperature. Raw vegetables and fruits also fall under this category once you have cut them,” she says.

Store Leftovers Properly

Resealable, food-grade containers are the best choice when it comes to storing leftovers. Refrigerators should be set at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or cooler, and freezers should be set at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Use leftovers within three to four days and make sure to reheat them to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. This will eliminate any lingering bacteria.

If You Get Sick, Hydrate

Contracting a foodborne illness can definitely put a damper on your fun with family and friends, especially during the summer months when vacations, family reunions, graduations, picnics and camping trips are at their peak. Remember to consult a doctor if you have diarrhea lasting more than three days, a fever above 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, bloody stools or prolonged vomiting.

Dr. Liu says it’s important to stay hydrated when fighting off a foodborne illness, as severe dehydration can lead to serious complications such as kidney problems.

“Make sure to take small sips of clear liquids throughout the day and suck on ice chips. You can also use an oral rehydration solution. Severe signs of dehydration include dizziness when standing, decreased urination and dry mouth and throat,” she says.

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Articles for your health.

Types of food poisoning and how to prevent them

Kevin McGuire, DO

Posted April 14, 2022

Food poisoning is a common foodborne illness caused by contaminated food. The symptoms can be brutal and start at the worst possible time. Fortunately, food poisoning is highly preventable. Keep reading to learn about six types of food poisoning and how to prevent them.

Types of food poisoning

There are more than 250 types of foodborne illnesses. Some of the most common types of food poisoning include:

Norovirus is the most common cause of foodborne illness. Norovirus is a highly contagious virus caused by interacting with someone with the virus. Norovirus is also caused by consuming contaminated food or water or touching your face after your hands contact a contaminated surface. Norovirus is more common in places with close living quarters or shared water source like cruise ships or dormitories.

Norovirus symptoms start within 12 to 48 hours and usually last one to three days. The most common norovirus symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain.

Rotavirus is a highly contagious virus that causes vomiting, a fever, diarrhea, stomach pain, inflammation and other intestinal symptoms. Rotavirus is most common in infants and younger children. Rotavirus symptoms usually start two days after exposure to the virus and last three to eight days. Some medications can ease the symptoms, but antibiotics and antiviral drugs aren’t effective against rotavirus.

Consider getting your kids vaccinated against rotavirus to prevent severe disease. Unvaccinated children in daycare programs are at higher risk of getting rotavirus. Schedule a rotavirus vaccine and other childhood vaccines today.

Salmonella poisoning

Salmonella poisoning is a common type of food poisoning that clings to undercooked poultry and raw eggs. Salmonella is more common in the summer than in winter because its harmful bacteria that cause food poisoning survive better in warmer weather. Salmonella poisoning symptoms start six hours to six days after exposure. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps and vomiting. Salmonella typically lasts for four to seven days.

You may be more at risk of salmonella poisoning if you take antacids, have inflammatory bowel disease or have pets. Another risk factor for salmonella is recent or long-term antibiotic use. Antibiotics make it harder to ward off salmonella because they kill off the “good” bacteria in your stomach and intestines.

Some types of salmonella, such as traveler’s diarrhea, are more common during international travel. See your health care provider if you have salmonella symptoms when you get back home.

Clostridium perfringens

Clostridium perfringenslounge in meat and poultry, often causing food poisoning when food is unrefrigerated for too long. Symptoms of clostridium perfringens include diarrhea and stomach cramps, and last less than 24 hours.

Listeriosis

The foodborne illness is caused by a germ called listeria. Listeria can survive in refrigerated temperatures and hide in foods, most commonly dairy products and produce. Listeriosis mostly affects pregnant women, newborns, people 65 and older and those with a weakened immune system.

Listeria symptoms start one to four weeks after exposure and last one to three days. Pregnant women usually experience flu-like symptoms . Older adults get headaches, neck stiffness, confusion, a fever and muscle aches. Your provider may recommend antibiotics for listeriosis treatment.

You likely already have some E. coli in your intestines. Fortunately, you only need to worry about the strains outside of your body. This type of food poisoning happens when you eat or drink food or water contaminated by E. coli. Other causes of E. coli include undercooked meat, unsanitary food handling, person-to-person contact and not washing your hands after touching an animal. E. coli is also responsible for most urinary tract infections and occasionally causes blood in the urine.

Symptoms start three to four days after exposure and usually last five to 10 days. E. coli symptoms include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting.

Cross-contamination

Cross-contamination happens when harmful bacteria transfer from one surface to another. Avoidance is your best defense against cross-contamination. Wash your hands and sanitize frequently touched surfaces such as door handles.

Warmer weather

Bacteria thrive in the summer months because bacteria grow quicker in warm weather. When the sun beats down, lower your chances of food poisoning by keeping your food at 40° F or below.

How to prevent food poisoning

Food poisoning is common and highly preventable. You can prevent food poisoning in four easy steps—clean, separate, cook and chill.

Clean often

Invisible to the naked eye, harmful germs that make you sick can spread from your hands to your countertops and land on your food.

• Wash your hands, cooking tools and surfaces thoroughly before, during and after preparing food and before eating. Use hand sanitizer as a substitute for washing your hands if soap and water aren’t available. Soap and water can eliminate most of the germs on your hands, while hand sanitizer only kills some of them.
• Use clean cooking tools, plates, serving platters and cutting boards that have touched raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs or flour.
• Rinse fruits and vegetables, but don’t wash meat, seafood, poultry or eggs to prevent getting or spreading harmful germs.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services says you should also wash your hands:

• before and after handling raw meat, uncooked eggs, poultry or seafood
• before eating
• after using the bathroom
• before and after caring for someone who’s sick
• after touching an animal
• after touching garbage
• after changing a diaper
• after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

Separate food

Raw meat, poultry, eggs and seafood often carry bacteria that cause food poisoning. Use separate cutting boards, plates and cooking tools to prepare, serve and eat food.

• Separate your raw meat, eggs, seafood, and juices from other ingredients from ready-to-eat food from the grocery store to your refrigerator until it’s fully cooked and ready to eat.
• Keep raw meats sealed in containers separate from other foods on the lower shelves of the fridge to prevent juices from leaking onto other food.
• If you bring food to a picnic, barbecue or any outdoor event, pack the meat in separate containers at the bottom and keep everything chilled at 40° F or below until it’s ready to serve or eat.
• When serving food, always use clean plates and don’t let raw and cooked food touch the same dish.

Some foods need to stay hot because heat kills germs. Don’t rely on how food looks or smells to determine “doneness.” Use a food thermometer to ensure your food has a safe internal temperature and prevent overcooking food.

Leaving food out at room temperature or warmer is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness. Refrigerate your food right away after cooking or buying it from the store. Dispose of any food you left out at room temperature for longer than two hours. Venturing beyond two hours can put you in the danger zone for food poisoning.

Store and cool food within one hour during the warmer months when bacteria can multiply even quicker and increase your chances of food poisoning. Like a solar panel, but less useful, bacteria use the sun for energy. You’re less likely to get food poisoning when the leftovers are stored in an airtight container and eaten within three to four days.

Learn how to prevent food poisoning at your next holiday gathering.

Treatments for food poisoning

Your food poisoning treatments depend on the type of food poisoning and the severity of your symptoms.

As you recover from food poisoning:

• Drink enough water to stay hydrated.
• Get enough rest and avoid strenuous physical activities.
• Modify your diet with foods that are easier on your stomach.

Get urgent care for food poisoning in person or start a virtual visit if you have non-life-threatening symptoms after clinic hours. Call 911 or visit the closest emergency room if you need medical attention right away. Your health care provider will give you IV fluids if you have severe hydration.

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How to prevent food poisoning: tips & tricks

While Europe is the global region with the lowest estimated burden from food poisoning, 1  hundreds of thousands of cases are reported in the European Union each year. 2  Many people become ill from food prepared or stored incorrectly at home, but the good news is that many cases are mild and we can all keep ourselves safe from food poisoning by following some simple tips.

Food poisoning is caused by eating food contaminated with illness-causing pathogens. It is not contagious. Symptoms can range from mild to severe, depending on the cause, but commonly include:

• stomach cramps
• loss of appetite
• aching muscles

In severe cases, food poisoning can lead to hospitalization or even death. If you are pregnant, you should pay extra attention to avoid food poisoning. Depending on the cause, food poisoning can last from a couple of hours up to several days. Three important causes of food poisoning are: 3

• Bacteria and viruses: These can multiply in the body and make us sick. Microbes can take time to multiply to levels that cause symptoms so it may take several days for symptoms to appear.
• Parasites: Depending on the type of parasite, the onset of symptoms can vary, and some people may be unaware they have been infected.
• Toxins are produced by living organisms such as bacteria or fungi. Cooking kills bacteria but toxins remain in the food and can cause illness. The symptoms can appear just a few hours after eating contaminated food.

In Europe, the majority of reported food poisoning outbreaks start at home with bacteria (such as Campylobacter and Salmonella) and viruses (such as norovirus) being common causes. 2 Sticking to some basic food hygiene rules can prevent us from getting sick.

1.Keep clean  4 , 5

Our hands, kitchen utensils, and dishcloths all carry microorganisms. While not all microorganisms are dangerous, it is recommended to;

• Always wash your hands thoroughly with warm soapy water before handling food and repeat often during food preparation.
• Cover any cuts with waterproof bandages and do not prepare food for others if you are sick or have a skin infection
• Prepare and chop food on a clean surface and clean all utensils and surfaces thoroughly after use with hot water and detergent, or in the dishwasher.
• Wash dishcloths, tea towels, hand towels and aprons frequently at high temperatures.

2. Separate raw and cooked 4 , 6

Raw foods can contain invisible disease-causing microbes. These can be transferred to ready-to-eat foods by cross-contamination either directly (for example if raw meat comes into contact with cooked foods) or indirectly (for example by chopping salad vegetables with a knife that was previously used to chop raw meat).

• Keep raw and cooked foods separate to avoid harmful microbes from raw foods spreading to ready-to-eat foods
• Use different utensils/chopping boards for raw and cooked foods to prevent cross-contamination. It may help to dedicate different coloured chopping boards to fruit/vegetables, fish/seafood, meat/poultry or raw/cooked foods.
• Never wash raw chicken as the splashing water can spread bacteria around the kitchen.

3. Cook thoroughly 4 , 8

• Cooking food properly to kill microorganisms growing in uncooked or undercooked meats & shellfish, or unpasteurised dairy products.
• Cooking/heating foods to temperatures of at least 72°C for 2 minutes will kill most illness-causing microbes.
• Check temperatures using a cooking thermometer, inserted into the centre of the food, or the thickest part of the meat away from the bone.
• Whole cuts of beef (steaks, joints) or lamb (chops, joints) can be eaten rare or pink as they are unlikely to have harmful bacteria in the centre. The outer surface should be seared to kill bacteria.
• Ground meat/fish products (such as burgers, sausages or fishcakes) have a large surface area and are therefore more likely to be contaminated than whole cuts of meat. These foods should be cooked through to a core temperature of at least 72°C for 2 mins.
• For pork and poultry, there should be no pink meat left. If you don’t have a thermometer, pierce the thickest part with a fork or skewer; the juices should run clear, not pink.
• Reheat leftovers of pre-prepared foods thoroughly. Bring soups and stews to a boil for at least 2 minutes.
• It is also safe to eat leftover leafy greens like spinach as long as they are thoroughly reheated.

4. Keep food at safe temperature 4 , 7 , 8

Microorganisms can multiply quickly, make sure to slow down the process by storing below 5°C or heating over 60°C.

• Keep the fridge below 5°C and check regularly using a refrigerator thermometer.
• Cool and place cooked foods and leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours.
• Serve food hot over 60°C.
• Thaw frozen food completely before cooking, ideally in a container in the fridge overnight.
• Keep leftovers in the fridge for maximum of 2 to 3 days.

5. Use safe water and raw materials  4

• Avoid contamination from dangerous microorganisms and chemicals. Select your water and raw materials carefully.  
• Choose fresh foods, avoid food that is rotting.
• Do not use food beyond ‘use by’ date.
• Wash fresh vegetables and fruit well with clean water before use to remove potential contaminants from the surface.

For more tips on how to cool and store leftovers see  Safe food storage at home.

Some common foodborne illnesses and their symptoms

• World Health Organization (2015). WHO estimates the global burden of foodborne diseases
• European Food Safety Authority & European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2016). EU summary report on zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks 2015. EFSA Journal 14(12):4634.
• European Food Safety Authority. EFSA explains zoonotic diseases: Foodborne zoonoses.
• World Health Organization (2006) Five keys to safer food manual
• safefood Ireland. Food Safety
• Food Standards Agency UK (2014). Don’t wash raw chicken.
• Voedingscentrum, Rundvlees
• Safefood, Cooking meat safely
• World Health Organization (2017). Campylobacter factsheet
• European Food Safety Authority (2014). EFSA explains zoonotic diseases: Salmonella
• World Health Organization (2017). Salmonella factsheet
• European Food Safety Authority (2014). EFSA explains zoonotic diseases: Listeria
• World Health Organization (2017). E.Coli factsheet
• Food Standards Agency UK. Norovirus
• World Health Organization (2017). Hepatitis A factsheet
• European Food Safety Authority (2017). Hepatitis E: raw pork is the main cause of infection in EU
• World Health Organization (2016) Toxoplasmosis: greater awareness needed

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Food Poisoning Is Common: Here’s How to Prevent It

In the United States, 1 in 6 people get foodborne illness each year which equals about 48 million cases. Food poisoning can happen when a person eats food or drinks water that contains bacteria or other harmful organisms. Symptoms may begin as soon as 2 hours after eating contaminated food or may not appear for a few days. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and headache are common symptoms of food poisoning. Symptoms of some types of food poisoning last only a couple of hours while others can last several days. Food poisoning may be more serious for infants, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with a weakened immune system.

 4 Steps to Food Safety:

• CLEAN: Keep hands and cooking utensils clean when preparing meals. Thoroughly wash cutting boards, knives, and other utensils
• SEPARATE: When preparing meat or poultry, keep them separated from fruits and vegetables so bacteria from the meat does not get on the produce
• COOL: Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of finishing a meal. This keeps food out of the temperature danger zone where bacteria can grow
• COOK: Cook meat to the correct temperature to ensure that bacteria does not survive

10 tips to prevent food poisoning:

• Wash fruits and vegetables
• Wash hands for at least 20 seconds before handling food
• Put raw meat in a plastic bag or on a plate in the fridge to prevent juices from dripping on other food
• Thaw and marinate meat in the fridge
• Put groceries in the fridge as quickly as possible
• When home canning, follow instructions for boiling jars
• Check the food recall list regularly to make sure you don’t have those unsafe foods in your home.
• When in doubt…throw it out!

If you think you have food poisoning or if you have questions, call Utah Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222. Experts are available 24/7 to help.

https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-poisoning

Https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/index.html, https://medlineplus.gov/foodsafety.html, https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety, author: sherrie pace, ms, mches ®  health educator, outreach coordinator, utah poison control center, about the utah poison control center.

The UPCC is a 24-hour resource for poison information, clinical toxicology consultation, and poison prevention education. The UPCC is a program of the State of Utah and is administratively housed in the University of Utah, College of Pharmacy. The UPCC is nationally certified as a regional poison control center.

Food Poisoning Basics

Learn about the causes, signs, and symptoms of food poisoning and tips for how to prevent yourself and your family from getting sick..

• Every year, about 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases.
• Anybody can get food poisoning (also called foodborne illness).
• But the following groups are more likely to get sick and to have a more serious illness:

Adults aged 65 and older

Children younger than age 5

People whose immune systems are weakened by health conditions or medicine used to treat them, including people with diabetes, liver or kidney disease, HIV/AIDS, or cancer

Pregnant women

See more about how to protect yourself and your family from food poisoning [PDF-138 KB] .

You should not eat these foods if you are more likely to get food poisoning:

•  Undercooked or raw animal products, such as meat, chicken, turkey, eggs, seafood
• Raw or lightly cooked sprouts
• Unpasteurized (raw) milk and juices
• Soft cheese, such as queso fresco, unless it is made with pasteurized milk

Wash hands, utensils, and kitchen surfaces often when you cook.

Keep fresh produce separate from raw meat, chicken, turkey, seafood, and eggs. Use separate cutting boards and plates.

Cook food to a safe internal temperature to kill germs. Use a food thermometer to check.

Refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours (or 1 hour if food is exposed to temperatures above 90°F, like a picnic or hot car). Examples of perishable food include meat, chicken, turkey, seafood, eggs, dairy, cut fruit, cooked rice, and leftovers.

To receive regular CDC updates on food safety, enter your email address:

• FoodSafety.gov external
• Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the U.S.
• Foodborne Illness Surveillance Systems
• Environmental Health Services

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Food poisoning-caused gastroenteritis

Food poisoning is a major cause of gastroenteritis. Drinking plenty of fluids, resting, and gradually increasing food intake can help people recover from gastroenteritis due to food poisoning.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cites that in spite of high standards in the U.S. food supply, about 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses occur annually due to eating food containing an infectious pathogen. There are also 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths as a result of food poisoning.

This article discusses the common symptoms, causes, and treatment of food poisoning.

What is food poisoning?

Gastroenteritis is a condition involving inflammation of the lining of the gut — in particular, of the stomach and intestines. It usually results from pathogens that infect a person and cause symptoms. These are usually viruses, bacteria, or parasites. When the source of such infection is food, it is called food poisoning.

Gastroenteritis may also be referred to as “gastric flu ” or “stomach flu.” The most common symptoms are usually diarrhea , nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain . It can also lead to dehydration , especially in vulnerable people such as the very young and very old .

Food poisoning symptoms

The onset of gastroenteritis symptoms after eating food infected with a pathogen can be within a few hours , but the incubation period can also be much longer, depending on the pathogen involved.

Four well-known, classic symptoms are typical:

• diarrhea (loose stools)
• nausea (feeling sick or queasy)
• abdominal pain (stomach cramps)

These symptoms can occur in any combination. They generally have a sudden (acute) onset, but this, and symptom severity, can vary.

Vomiting usually happens earlier on in the disease, diarrhea usually lasts for a few days, but can be longer depending on the organism that is causing the symptoms.

In addition to the classic symptoms above, gastroenteritis can also bring about:

• loss of appetite
• fever or high temperature and chills

Symptoms by type

The type of gastrointestinal symptoms is a clue to the type of infection. Viral infection generally produces diarrhea without blood or mucus and watery diarrhea is a prominent symptom.

Conversely, a person is more likely to have diarrhea with mucus and blood in bacterial diarrhea. Norovirus can cause acute onset of vomiting, especially in children.

Dehydration and malnutrition

One of the dangers of food poisoning and gastroenteritis — especially in very young, old, or otherwise vulnerable people — is the loss of fluids resulting from diarrhea and vomiting, which can lead to dehydration. Dehydration can, however, be prevented.

In the case of parasitic gastroenteritis, another danger is malnutrition. The parasites reach the intestines and feed off the nutrients a person absorbs from their food. This results in a person developing a chronic lack of nutrients.

Food poisoning causes

Infections can pass from person to person when people spread a pathogen by touching food, especially in cases where hand hygiene is more challenging. There are generally viruses, bacteria, or parasites.

Viral gastroenteritis

Viral gastroenteritis is also called stomach flu.

Viruses that most commonly cause viral gastroenteritis are:

• Rotavirus. More common in children and the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in children
• Norovirus. More common in adults

Less common viral causes are astrovirus, usually affecting children and the elderly, and adenoviruses. Cytomegalovirus can cause gastroenteritis, especially in people with compromised immunity.

Bacterial gastroenteritis

The microorganisms that most commonly cause bacterial gastroenteritis are:

• Campylobacter
• Escherichia coli (especially serotype O157:H7)
• Clostridium difficile

A study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration found that between 2015–2019, 75% of E. coli cases came from beef and leafy green vegetables.

Parasitic gastroenteritis

Parasites are organisms that need to live inside and feed off other organisms in order to survive.

Though gastroenteritis caused by parasites is more common in low and middle-income regions, parasitic infections do occur globally. About 450 million people become ill around the world annually.

The two types of parasites that typically infect the human gastrointestinal tract are single-celled protozoa and helminths, which are worm parasites. Common protozoa infections include giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis .

Learn about parasitic infections in humans.

Food poisoning timeline

The time it takes for symptoms to appear may depend on the bacteria or pathogen causing the illness.

Though different pathogens will affect the body in different ways, the FDA and CDC summarize how common pathogens might cause gastroenteritis as follows:

Food poisoning treatment

Gastroenteritis and food poisoning usually resolve without any medical intervention. Treatment is focused on reducing the symptoms and preventing complications, especially dehydration.

The main treatment and prevention strategy for food poisoning is to rest and replace lost fluids and electrolytes by:

• drinking plenty of liquids (preferably with oral rehydration salts to replace lost electrolytes — see below)
• ensuring fluid intake even if vomiting persists, by sipping small amounts of water or allowing ice cubes to melt in the mouth
• gradually starting to eat again

What should a person eat?

There are no specific restrictions on food, but blander foods might be easier to digest. These can include:

A person may want to avoid fatty, sugary, or spicy foods, as well as dairy products, caffeine, and alcohol, as these may worsen symptoms.

How to prevent dehydration?

To avoid the dangerous and potentially fatal effects of dehydration from diarrhea, a person should drink oral rehydration salts (ORS).

Research shows that using ORS has prevented more than 50 million deaths from diarrhea around the world since 2007. Since 1980 this use reduced the mortality from diarrhea in children under the age of 5 by about two-thirds.

Dehydration has been a more significant risk in low or middle-income countries. In higher-income countries, while the threat of death is smaller, rehydration is nonetheless important.

A person can replace salt, glucose, and minerals lost through dehydration through sachets of oral rehydration salts available from pharmacies and online. A person can dissolve the salts in drinking water and this does not require a doctor’s prescription.

It is important to get the right concentration, as too much sugar can make diarrhea worse, while too much salt can be extremely harmful, especially for children. A more diluted solution (for instance using more than 1 liter of water), is preferable to a more concentrated solution.

Store-bought products like Pedialyte and Gatorade also help restore electrolytes and increase hydration.

Drug treatments for gastroenteritis

Drugs are available to reduce the main symptoms of gastroenteritis, which are diarrhea and vomiting:

• antidiarrheal medication such as loperamide (branded versions include Imodium , and Imotil, among others) and bismuth subsalicylate ( Pepto-Bismol )
• antiemetic (anti-vomiting) medication such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine) and metoclopramide (Reglan and Metozolv)
• antiparasitic medications such as Metronidazole (Flagyl) or Ivermectin (Stromectol). (The exact medication will depend on the type of parasite.)

Antidiarrheals are available over-the-counter, while antiemetics are available via a prescription.

A person should speak with a doctor before taking anti-diarrhea medication as some infections may get worse with anti-diarrhea medicines.

If a person’s stomach flu is caused by bacteria, they may also need to take antibiotics .

Probiotics and gastroenteritis

Probiotics (live “good” bacteria and yeasts) may also be helpful in treating gastroenteritis, according to some newer research. One study found that the use of probiotics in children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis shortened the duration of diarrhea by a mean of 1.16 days.

Specifically, there is some evidence to support the use of the following strains of beneficial bacteria in the treatment of gastroenteritis in children, alongside the use of oral rehydration solutions without dietary restriction:

• Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG
• Saccharomyces boulardii

This is a new area of study, so there may be more research about using probiotics to treat gastroenteritis in the future.

Who is at risk for food poisoning?

People with compromised immunity are especially at risk of getting food poisoning and getting severe symptoms, as their bodies may not be able to fight off the infection as well.

Other people at risk include people over the age of 65, pregnant people, children, and infants.

In addition, a person who eats the following foods may be more at risk:

• beef, chicken
• fish (especially raw like sushi) and seafood like shellfish
• fruit and vegetables

Food poisoning prevention

Standard advice to avoid food poisoning includes four key components:

• Cook. Ensure adequate heating time at the proper temperature to kill any bacteria that could cause gastroenteritis. It is helpful to use a thermometer to test cooked meat and to ensure egg yolks are firm.
• Separate. Separate foods to avoid cross-contamination and especially raw meat.
• Chill. Chilled storage slows the growth of harmful bacteria.
• Clean. Keep utensils and worktops clean and wash hands frequently, especially before eating or touching the mouth and after handling raw meat or eggs.

Food poisoning diagnosis

Food poisoning is usually easy to diagnose from the symptoms alone with little need for confirmation from a doctor. The symptoms a patient reports are usually sufficient to inform a diagnosis.

In some cases, stool testing is necessary. For example, if diarrhea is accompanied by blood or is watery for more than a few days, doctors may want a stool sample to test for parasites or bacteria.

During an outbreak of rotavirus, for example, the doctor may request other specific tests.

In some cases based on the patient’s symptoms or history, a doctor may rule out other conditions such as appendicitis , diverticulitis, or bowel obstruction.

Frequently asked questions

The following are answers to common questions about gastroenteritis.

What are other causes of gastroenteritis?

In rarer cases, a few other causes can lead to gastroenteritis. These include eating food containing heavy metals, and eosinophilic gastroenteritis, which is a sensitivity or allergy to certain foods. Sometimes, when a person eats food containing bacteria, they may not get sick from the bacteria itself but from a toxin that the bacteria releases.

Is it food poisoning or stomach flu?

Food poisoning refers to gastroenteritis caused by eating food containing pathogens. This can have a viral cause, such as norovirus for example, which is when it is referred to as “stomach flu.” However, this is not what people think of as the “flu,” which is the influenza virus.

Learn more about stomach flu vs influenza.

Is gastroenteritis contagious?

Gastroenteritis is contagious. The degree of contagion can depend on the type of pathogen and the amount a person has been exposed to. It may also depend on any predisposing factors, such as whether the person is immunocompromised, for example.

A person who is ill other people while they have symptoms and for several weeks after getting better. A person can pass the infection to someone else by touching water, food, or other objects infected with pathogens. They can also do it by coming in physical contact with another person or by breathing out droplets containing the pathogen.

Learn more about contracting stomach flu.

Last medically reviewed on June 22, 2022

• GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
• Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses

How we reviewed this article:

• Bin Abdul Sattar, A., et al. (2021). Bacterial gastroenteritis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513295/
• Campbell, S., et al. (2021). Antiparasitic drugs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544251/
• Cardemil, C. V., et al. (2019). Norovirus. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/travel-related-infectious-diseases/norovirus
• Diarrhea and vomiting (gastroenteritis). (2020). http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Gastroenteritis/Pages/Introduction.aspx
• Definition & facts for viral gastroenteritis (“stomach flu”). (2018). https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/viral-gastroenteritis/definition-facts
• Eosinophilic gastroenteritis. (n.d.). https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/eosinophilic-gastroenteritis/
• Foodborne germs and illnesses. (2020). https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html
• Foodborne illness source attribution estimates for 2019 for salmonella, escherichia coli o157, listeria monocytogenes, and campylobacter using multi-year outbreak surveillance data, united states. (2021). https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ifsac/pdf/p19-2019-report-tri agency-508.Pdf
• Foodborne illnesses: What you need to know. (2020). http://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm103263.htm
• Foods that can cause food poisoning. (2022). https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foods-linked-illness.html
• Gastroenteritis. (n.d.). https://muschealth.org/medical-services/ddc/patients/digestive-diseases/stomach-and-duodenum/gastroenteritis
• Gastroenteritis. (n.d.). https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/gastroenteritis
• Gastroenteritis (stomach flu). (2019). https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/flu-cold-and-gastroenteritis/gastroenteritis
• Giardiasis. (2017). https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/giardiasis/index.html
• Gotfried, J., et al. (2021). Overview of gastroenteritis. https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/gastrointestinal-disorders/gastroenteritis/overview-of-gastroenteritis
• Kluijfhout, S., et al. (2020). Efficacy of the probiotic probiotical confirmed in acute gastroenteritis. h //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7481057/
• Lofgren, J. P. (n.d.). Table A. causes of acute foodborne gastroenteritis – quick reference. https://www.alabamapublichealth.gov/foodsafety/assets/tablea.pdf
• Nalin, R. D., et al . (2018). 50 years of oral rehydration therapy: The solution is still simple. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31488-0/fulltext
• O’Shea, H., et al. (2019). Viruses associated with foodborne infections. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7157469/
• Parasites - cryptosporidium. (2021). https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/illness.html
• Rotavirus symptoms. (2021). https://www.cdc.gov/rotavirus/about/symptoms.html
• Siddiqui, Z. A., et al. (2017). An overview of parasitic infections of the gastro-intestinal tract in developed countries affecting immunocompromised individuals. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5555948/
• Sitotaw, B., et al. (2019). Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and associated risk factors among Jawi primary school children, Jawi town, north-west Ethiopia. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6485161/
• Sood, N., et al. (2014). Private sector provision of oral rehydration therapy for child diarrhea in sub-saharan africa
• Stuempfig, N. D., et al. (2021). Viral gastroenteritis. https://www.ajtmh.org/view/journals/tpmd/90/5/article-p939.xml
• Szajewska H, et al. (2014). Use of probiotics for management of acute gastroenteritis: a position paper by the ESPGHAN Working Group for Probiotics and Prebiotics [Abstract]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24614141
• What you need to know about foodborne illnesses. (2022). https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/what-you-need-know-about-foodborne-illnesses
• Xie, H., et al. (2020). An uncommon cause of acute gastroenteritis, intestinal obstruction and ascites. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32017907/

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Essay on Food Poisoning

Students are often asked to write an essay on Food Poisoning in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Food Poisoning

What is food poisoning.

Food poisoning is when someone gets sick from eating food that has bad germs. These germs are like tiny bugs that can cause trouble in your stomach and intestines. It happens when food is not cooked properly, is dirty, or sits out too long.

Common Symptoms

When a person has food poisoning, they might feel like throwing up, have diarrhea, stomach pain, fever, or feel very tired. These signs can start a few hours after eating the bad food or sometimes even days later.

Preventing Food Poisoning

To avoid food poisoning, always wash your hands before eating or cooking. Make sure your food is cooked well and kept at safe temperatures. Don’t eat food that looks or smells strange.

What to Do If You Get Sick

If you think you have food poisoning, it’s important to drink lots of water and rest. Most of the time, it gets better on its own. But if you feel really bad or if it doesn’t get better, you should tell an adult and see a doctor.

250 Words Essay on Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is when someone gets sick from eating food that has harmful germs in it. These germs can be bacteria, viruses, or even tiny bugs called parasites. It happens because the food was not cooked properly, was touched by dirty hands, or was left out for too long and the germs started to grow.

When a person has food poisoning, they might feel like throwing up, have a stomachache, diarrhea, or fever. These signs can start just a few hours after eating the bad food or sometimes not until a few days later. Most of the time, these symptoms are not too serious and the person gets better in a day or two.

Causes of Food Poisoning

Germs like Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria are some of the main causes of food poisoning. They can get into food in many ways. If someone who is cooking doesn’t wash their hands or if meat is not cooked until it’s really hot, germs can survive and make people sick. Raw fruits and vegetables that aren’t washed can also have germs on them.

To avoid getting food poisoning, it’s important to wash your hands before you eat or make food. Make sure food is cooked well and kept at the right temperature, either very hot or very cold. Also, keep your kitchen clean and don’t eat food that looks or smells strange.

If you think you have food poisoning, it’s best to drink lots of water and rest. If you feel very sick, your parents can take you to a doctor. It’s especially important to see a doctor if you can’t keep water down or if you have been sick for more than a few days.

500 Words Essay on Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is a common problem that happens when you eat food contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, or toxins. This can lead to feeling very sick, with symptoms like stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. It’s not usually serious and most people get better on their own without needing to see a doctor.

The main cause of food poisoning is eating food that has harmful germs in it. These germs can get into food at any point when it’s being grown, processed, or cooked. Not washing hands, using dirty cooking tools, and not cooking food at the right temperature can all lead to food poisoning.

Symptoms to Watch For

Symptoms of food poisoning can start within hours after eating the bad food, or they might take days to appear. Common signs include stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. People usually feel better in a few days, but it’s important to drink lots of fluids to avoid dehydration, especially in young children and older adults.

To prevent food poisoning, always wash your hands before handling food. Make sure to cook meat all the way through and keep raw meat away from other foods to avoid cross-contamination. It’s also a good idea to refrigerate leftovers quickly and not eat food that’s been sitting out for too long.

What to Do If You Get Food Poisoning

If you think you have food poisoning, it’s important to drink plenty of fluids and rest. Eating bland foods like toast and rice can help settle your stomach. If your symptoms are very bad or don’t get better after a few days, you should tell an adult and see a doctor.

When to See a Doctor

Most of the time, food poisoning will get better on its own. But if you have symptoms like blood in your vomit or stool, high fever, or if you feel very dehydrated and can’t keep fluids down, you should get medical help right away.

Food poisoning is an unpleasant experience that can make you feel very sick. By understanding what causes it and how to prevent it, you can help keep yourself and others safe from this illness. Remember to handle food safely and always pay attention to how your body feels after eating. If you ever suspect you have food poisoning, don’t hesitate to seek help and get the care you need to feel better.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Food Safety And Sanitation Importance
• Essay on Food And Life
• Essay on Food And Culture

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• Patient Care & Health Information
• Diseases & Conditions
• Food poisoning

A diagnosis is based on a physical exam and a review of things that may be causing vomiting, diarrhea or other symptoms. Questions from your health care provider will cover:

• Your symptoms.
• Food or drinks you've had recently.
• Symptoms in people who ate with you.
• Recent changes in the drugs you take.
• Recent travel.

Your health care provider will examine you to rule out other causes of illness and check for signs of dehydration.

Your provider may order tests including:

• Stool sample tests to name the bacteria, viruses, parasites or toxins.
• Blood tests to name a cause of illness, rule out other conditions or identify complications.

When one person or a family gets food poisoning, it's hard to know what food was contaminated. The time from eating the contaminated food to the time of sickness can be hours or days. During that time, you may have had one or several more meals. This makes it difficult to say what food made you sick.

In a large outbreak, public health officials may be able to find the common food all of the people shared.

Treatment for food poisoning depends on how severe your symptoms are and what caused the illness. In most cases, drug treatment isn't necessary.

Treatment may include the following:

• Fluid replacement. Fluids and electrolytes, maintain the balance of fluids in your body. Electrolytes include minerals such as sodium, potassium and calcium. After vomiting or diarrhea, it's important to replace fluids to prevent dehydration. Severe dehydration may require going to the hospital. You may need fluids and electrolytes delivered directly into the bloodstream.
• Antibiotics. If the illness is caused by bacteria, you may be prescribed an antibiotic. Antibiotics are generally for people with severe disease or with a higher risk of complications.
• Antiparasitics. Drugs that target parasites, called antiparasitics, are usually prescribed for parasitic infections.
• Probiotics. Your care provider may recommend probiotics. These are treatments that replace healthy bacteria in the digestive system.

Drugs for diarrhea or upset stomach

Adults who have diarrhea that isn't bloody and who have no fever may take loperamide (Imodium A-D) to treat diarrhea. They also may take bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol, Kaopectate, others) to treat an upset stomach. These nonprescription drugs are not recommended for children.

Ask your doctor about these options.

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Lifestyle and home remedies

For most people, symptoms improve without treatment within 48 hours. To help keep yourself more comfortable and prevent dehydration while you recover, try the following:

• Let your stomach settle. Eat after your stomach is settled and you are hungry again.
• Replace fluids. Replace fluids with water, sports drinks, juice with added water or broths. Children or people at risk for serious illness should drink rehydration fluids (Pedialyte, Enfalyte, others). Talk to your doctor before giving rehydration fluids to infants.
• Ease back into eating. Gradually begin to eat bland, low-fat, easy-to-digest foods, such as soda crackers, toast, gelatin, bananas and rice. Stop eating if you feel sick to your stomach again.
• Avoid certain foods and substances until you're feeling better. These include dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, and fatty or highly seasoned foods.
• Rest. Rest to recover from illness and dehydration.

Preparing for your appointment

You'll likely see your primary health care provider. In some cases, you may need to see a specialist in infectious diseases.

Be prepared to answer the following questions.

• When did your symptoms begin?
• Have the symptoms been continuous, or do they come and go?
• Have you had bloody diarrhea or stools?
• Have you had black or tarry stools?
• Have you had a fever?
• What have you recently eaten?
• Did anyone who ate the same food have symptoms?
• Have you recently traveled? Where?
• What drugs, dietary supplements or herbal remedies do you take?
• Had you taken antibiotics in the days or weeks before your symptoms started?
• Have you recently changed medications?
• Foodborne germs and illnesses. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Definition & facts of food poisoning. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/food-poisoning/definition-facts. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Symptoms & causes of food poisoning. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/food-poisoning/symptoms-causes. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• LaRocque R. Causes of acute infectious diarrhea and other foodborne illnesses in resource-rich settings. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Bennett JE, et al. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett's Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 9th ed. Elsevier; 2020. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Schmitt BD. Pediatric Telephone Protocols: Office Version. 17th ed. American Academy of Pediatrics; 2021.
• Fever. American College of Emergency Physicians. https://www.emergencyphysicians.org/article/know-when-to-go/fever. Accessed Nov. 30, 2022.
• Bacteria and viruses. FoodSafety.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-poisoning/bacteria-and-viruses. Accessed Nov. 16, 2022.
• Kellerman RD, et al. Foodborne illnesses. In: Conn's Current Therapy 2022. Elsevier; 2022. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Nov. 13, 2022.
• Goldman L, et al., eds. Giardiasis. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Elsevier; 2020. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Nov. 13, 2022.
• Diagnosis of food poisoning. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/food-poisoning/diagnosis. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• LaRocque R. Approach to the adult with acute diarrhea in resource-rich settings. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Treatment for food poisoning. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/food-poisoning/treatment. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Eating, diet and nutrition for food poisoning. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/food-poisoning/eating-diet-nutrition. Accessed Nov. 20, 2022.
• Four steps to food safety: Clean, separate, cook, chill. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/keep-food-safe.html. Accessed Nov. 7, 2022.
• Leftovers and food safety. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety. Accessed Nov. 20, 2022.
• Foods that can cause food poisoning. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foods-linked-illness.html. Accessed Nov. 20, 2022.
• Molds on food: Are they dangerous? Food Safety and Inspection Service. U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/molds-food-are-they-dangerous Accessed Dec. 1, 2022.

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• Int J Environ Res Public Health

Food-Borne Disease Prevention and Risk Assessment

“Food-borne Disease Prevention and Risk Assessment” is a Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health on understanding how food-borne disease is still a global threat to health today and to be able to target strategies to reduce its prevalence. Despite decades of government and industry interventions, food-borne disease remains unexpectedly high in both developed and developing nations. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in six persons in the United States suffers from gastroenteritis each year, with up to 3000 fatalities arising from consumption of contaminated food [ 1 ]. According to the WHO Initiative to Estimate the Global Burden of Food-borne Diseases, 31 global hazards caused 600 million food-borne illnesses and 420,000 deaths in 2010; diarrheal disease agents were the leading cause of these in most regions caused by Salmonella, but Taenia solium , hepatitis A virus, and aflatoxin were also significant causes of food-borne illness [ 2 , 3 ]. The global burden of food-borne disease by these 31 hazards was 33 (95% UI 25–46) million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in 2010; 40% of the food-borne disease burden was among children under five years of age. Since we know that most food-borne diseases are preventable, these are astonishing figures for the 21st century. We are familiar with some of the underlying conditions: unsafe water used for the cleaning and processing of food, poor food-production processes, inadequate storage, and food-handling practices including infected food workers and cross-contamination of food. These can be coupled with inadequate or poorly enforced regulatory standards and industry compliance. However, knowledge of these is not enough. Making advances in prevention and control practices requires a suite of interlinked actions from improvements in the investigation of complaints and illnesses to finding the root cause of outbreaks; applying rapid and accurate identification of the hazards present; determining the conditions in which pathogens grow and multiply in order to eliminate or reduce these numbers; developing targeted intervention strategies; understanding human behavior with respect to food processing and its preparation; producing effective educational and training programs; evaluating the risks of existing and modified food production and preparation practices; predicting how effective potential interventions would be, and introducing effective and enforceable codes of practice for the different harvesting, processing, and preparing industry components. The human element is now known to be critical in applying safe practices to prevent food-borne illnesses, but it is much more difficult to influence for positive change, both from the culture of an organization and individual backgrounds and preferences. This issue is a modest attempt to explore some of these efforts through five publications.

Most agents causing food-borne illness have been identified over the last 145 years, starting from the pioneering work of Robert Koch who identified the cause of anthrax, tuberculosis and cholera. He also dismissed the then-current concept of spontaneous generation, used agar as a base for growing bacteria, and proposed his four postulates: (1) the organism must always be present, in every case of the disease; (2) the organism must be isolated from a host containing the disease and grown in pure culture; (3) samples of the organism taken from pure culture must cause the same disease when inoculated into a healthy, susceptible animal in the laboratory; (4) the organism must be isolated from the inoculated animal and must be identified as the same original organism first isolated from the originally diseased host. Over time, however, the rigid application of these postulates probably hindered research into the discovery of new agents, particularly viruses which initially could not be seen or isolated in culture. Today, nucleic acid-based microbial detection methods have made Koch’s original postulates less relevant, because these methods make it possible to identify microbes associated with a disease, even if they are non-culturable. Prions are another class of agents that do not fit into the classical infectious disease agent being misfolded proteins with the ability to transmit their misfolded shape onto normal variants of the same protein to cause transmissible neurodegenerative diseases in humans and some animals. Thus, a challenge today is to be prepared to identify and characterize new infectious agents which can arise from unexpected sources. This applies to coronaviruses which have recently been brought to the public’s attention where humans have been infected from animal sources. These include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), for which bats are a major reservoir of many strains, and other strains have been identified in palm civets; Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV), is a species of coronavirus which also has reservoirs in bats, and but has spread to camels and from there to humans, particularly camel handlers; and the current COVID-19 virus pandemic affecting millions of people worldwide, which likely originated from wet markets in Wuhan, China, where domestic and wild animals are slaughtered for customers; however, significantly, bats may also be the primary reservoir.

This background makes the paper of Wen, Sun, Li, He and Tsai [ 4 ], Avian Influenza—Factors Affecting Consumers’ Purchase Intentions toward Poultry Products , all the more relevant for those seeing increasing links between animals and human diseases. Influenza viruses, belong to the Orthomyxoviridae, a different family from the coronaviruses; yet, strains of both of these infect humans and animals, and some can be transmitted from animals to humans; these include the H1N1 avian influenza (swine flu) of 2009, which killed between 151,000 and 575,000 people worldwide) and H5N1, strain (popularly known as the bird flu) which had pandemic potential. In particular, poultry production and sales have led to the spread of H5N1 and other avian influenza viruses [ 5 ]. This strain was first isolated from a goose in China in 1996 and it spread throughout Asia and Europe over the next decade with associations of wild birds and poultry. Large sums of money were spent in order to eliminate this disease despite the relatively few associated human illnesses and deaths worldwide, and most Europeans who had limited exposure to H5N1 feared any new viruses such as the avian flu and avoided uncooked chicken products [ 6 ]. Poultry production dropped 25-30% in many Asian countries, including China. A subsequent avian influenza strain, A H7N9, also caused human infections although the number of human cases transmitted by this strain was more limited than for H5N1. Nevertheless, populations in Asia and particularly China have been sensitized to the potential risks of human infections and economic damage from news’ reports of avian influenza. The paper of Wen et al. [ 4 ] focuses on the purchase intentions consumers in Guangzhou, China, during recurring reports of this epidemic. Avian influenza A H7N9 virus had not previously been seen in either animals or people until it was found in March 2013 in China. However, since then, infections in both humans and birds have been observed, and the disease is of concern because most patients have become severely ill. Most of the cases of human infection with this avian H7N9 virus were associated with recent exposure to live poultry or potentially contaminated environments, especially markets where live birds have been sold. This virus does not appear to transmit easily from person to person, and sustained human-to-human transmission has not been reported. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) [ 7 ], case-control studies suggest contact with poultry or a visit to a live poultry market in the two weeks prior to disease onset was a significant risk factor. Cases have been reported in humans who visited live bird markets, slaughtered poultry or pigeons, transported poultry, and brought live poultry into their homes. As of December 2019, the number of confirmed human cases and deaths was 1568 and 616, respectively, and 26 live markets in 15 Chinese provinces tested positive for the virus, mainly in chicken samples [ 8 ]. Thus, it is understandable that Chinese purchasers of recently slaughtered poultry should have concerns for their health, and they would consider avoiding purchasing any chicken products.

Wen et al. [ 4 ] found, unsurprisingly, that from a risk perception perspective, the more consumers believed purchasing chicken products was a risk during a period of this avian influenza outbreak, the more they reduced their purchase of chicken products, since they had low levels of trust in the quality of chicken meat. Since the public receives most of its information on avian influenza and its relationship to human illness, animal diseases and food contamination, through the mass media as it is narrated and shown to consumers, will influence and change their willingness to purchase chicken products. The authors recommended that government provides accurate information on the public health system to ensure the stable and healthy development of the poultry meat products or consumers, and to rebut any misleading media reports. However, this depends on how much trust the people are willing to place on government agencies. As Bánáti [ 6 ] indicates, there was distrust in the past in industry and government oversight of the food supply developed because of food scares such mad cow disease, dioxin in pork, melamine in pet and baby food, and now more recently in outbreaks of avian influenza, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Although coronaviruses, particularly COVID-19, are not food-borne, the worldwide public may be overly cautious about any food they purchase and wet markets in Asia may see a drop in attendance at least until such pandemics are over. It would be interesting to explore how long anxiety over food purchases occur after this pandemic is over, but it seems the longer they last through media coverage, the more the concern will remain.

The second paper in this series, entitled Cognitive Biases of Consumers’ Risk Perception of Food-borne Diseases in China: Examining Anchoring Effect by Shan, Wang, Wu and Tsai [ 9 ], also focuses on the perception of risks of food-borne illness in China. The authors indicate that the home is the place where the largest number of food-borne illness cases occur in China, and one of the reasons for this is that many consumers are not aware of their vulnerability to such illnesses and they underestimate their risk. This seems to be opposite to the findings of Wen et al. [ 4 ] where consumers are very concerned about avian influenza transmission, but the contrast can be explained because there is virtually no media coverage of food-borne illnesses at home. Because consumers seem to have limited knowledge of the risks, the authors propose that they tend to use an anchoring strategy on which to base their food-borne disease prevention and control decisions. The authors argue that since consumers are not always rational in making decisions, they often adjust their judgments on their subjective understanding and their initial reference information (called the initial anchor). However, other factors such as an uncertain external environment and limited knowledge make consumers unsure of the extent to which they can adjust their estimates. These limitations in information processing result in biased anchoring results, which they call the “anchoring effect”. The authors postulate that because Chinese citizens have limited scientific literacy compared with those in developed countries, Chinese consumers should have significant cognitive biases including the anchoring effect. Although there are few reports on whether there is an anchoring effect in consumers’ risk perception of food-borne disease, previous studies of other diseases have confirmed that there is indeed an anchoring effect, such as overestimating the risks of breast cancer. To test whether or not consumers’ limited knowledge results in a significant anchoring effect, the authors collected survey data from 375 consumers in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. A questionnaire obtained information on how much the respondents knew about food-borne diseases and how they could be prevented. Based on the approximate national food-borne disease prevalence rate of 15% of the population, in this study 30% and 5% food-borne disease prevalence were selected as high and low anchor values, respectively. This experimenter-provided anchor value, a history of food-borne disease, and familiarity with those diseases were found to be important factors influencing the respondents’ anchoring effect. They found that when more information was provided to the respondents in the study (considered as a short-term intervention), their risk perception was improved to some extent, but there were still anchoring biases. As a result, Shan et al. [ 9 ] argue that short-term interventions would not substantially change consumers’ anchoring effect, and there is a need for stronger and more long-term interventions. They recommend that government should play an active role in publicity and education aimed at the public about food-borne diseases. Specifically, the prevalence and scientific context about different food-borne diseases should be disseminated to consumers through various media, such as the internet, television, and radio, to warn consumers of the objective risks of these diseases. Therefore, they argue that improving consumers’ risk perception of food-borne disease is critical to the long-term prevention of illness from these risks. They concluded that government should strengthen active monitoring, publicity, and education about food-borne disease, so that individuals are more knowledgeable scientifically to improve their perception in making judgments about risks of food-borne disease. However, knowledge alone may not be enough. Da Cunha et al. [ 10 ] found that education is not as effective as training in school food handlers in Brazil. Rossi et al. [ 11 ] observed that although food handlers have knowledge of microbiological risks, their risk perception has a weak association with food safety knowledge. They stated that, unfortunately, food handlers demonstrate an awareness of food safety, but they generally fail to translate that knowledge into safe practices because of their optimistic bias. Optimistic bias is a psychological phenomenon in which people believe they are less likely to experience adverse events than others, such as in home-prepared meals. This concern also applies to consumers eating out; they can incorporate a sense of affection and identity to a place, associating it with making their own meals at home, and do not identify the risk of food-borne disease while eating at those restaurants [ 12 ]. Like food handlers, consumers have a feeling of overconfidence in the restaurant they eat with their optimistic bias. This result reinforces the need for governments and health agencies to protect the health of the population. Wildemann [ 13 ] also points out that although food-borne illnesses contribute substantially to the overall burden of disease, including hospitalizations, economic loss, and death, in contrast to food safety experts, the public usually perceives food-borne diseases as low risk. This distinguishes the differences in the perception of the risk between experts and the public. Wildemann [ 13 ] lists many qualitative factors affecting risk perception and evaluation. These include mild symptoms vs. potential fatal consequences or delayed adverse effects; dread or low concern for a certain disease; reversibility of the effects of the disease (e.g., long-term sequelae, reduced quality of life, or rapid recovery); previous history of the disease in the family or community; existing health of the individual, e.g., immunocompromised; familiarity of the agents or disease and understanding its means of transmission; increasing or decreasing public concern; exposure and impact controllable; risk determined by personal actions or mistakes made by others; trust in institutions; much or little media attention to the concern. Rosati and Saba [ 14 ] found that the concern about food risks was found to be statistically significantly dependent on the perception of risk to the individual. Usually, food-borne illness will not evoke outrage among lay people because they are perceived as voluntary, controllable, visible, and familiar. This means that most individuals perceive the threats of food-borne diseases as low, although food can pose significant risks. In particular, food-borne illness originating in the home is perceived as familiar and controllable.

For Wuxi consumers and, by extrapolation, for Chinese residents on the whole, there should be a low perceived risk even though the prevalence of food-borne disease in China is as high as 15%. This is similar to the percentage in the USA (17%) where, according to Scallan et al. [ 1 ], one in six persons is estimated to suffer from food-borne illness each year. Wildemann [ 13 ] emphasizes among the factors associated with increased concern are high media attention, and any risk message and its originator are crucial components for informing the public what actions to take of any food-borne disease concern; she emphasizes that if the public does not consider the source credible, it will be difficult to convey the message and effect long-term changes in attitude. This seems to be consistent with a long-term-held anchoring effect described by Shan et al. [ 9 ]. Credibility has two dimensions: expertise and trustworthiness. Expertise refers to the knowledge in a specific area and trustworthiness to the reliability of the message content. Trust depends on three factors: knowledge expertise, honesty concerning the completeness of the provided information, and whether the concerns of the consumers are taken seriously or not by the risk message originator [ 14 ]. Therefore, trust plays a major role in the credibility and acceptance of an institution to influence the processing of risk information and potential changes in consumer behavior. Involving the media during the whole process may enhance the trust of the public in food safety policy. All this information questions whether it is possible, without extensive government media campaigns and perhaps a scare factor like avian influenza in a population, to substantially change attitudes and behaviors towards food safety through reducing the anchoring effect. Unfortunately, although food scares draw public attention, they can also create false or misleading information that has to be countered by the experts [ 6 ], and the public may become polarized between being ultra-protective of personal and family health to a cavalier attitude to throw caution to the wind, as seems to be the case in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The discussion on perception and communication of risk and how translate government polices into changed behavior takes us to the third paper in this issue, that of Farias, Akutsu, Botelho, and Zandonadi [ 15 ] discussing Good Practices in Home Kitchens: Construction and Validation of an Instrument for Household Food-Borne Disease Assessment and Prevention . The purpose of the study was to develop and validate an instrument to evaluate Brazilian home kitchens’ good practices. the rationale for this was for food preparers at home to avoid food-borne diseases illnesses by adopting preventive actions throughout the home food production chain. Although governments regulate food safety practices in commercial food production and food service establishments, there are no regulations on how to control food preparation and handling in the home. From the work of Rossi et al. [ 11 ] and Shan et al. [ 9 ], consumers may have an optimistic bias that creates an anchoring effect to fix consumers’ the risks associated with food-borne illness. Therefore, there needs to be more information on how to reduce food-borne domestic cases through improving food handling practices. After the instrument was developed, the content was validated using the Delphi technique with independent food hygiene and food safety specialists, and a focus group for validation of the criteria. The study showed that consumers in Brazil tend not to perceive themselves, or someone in their family, to be susceptible to food-borne illness; rank their risk of food-borne illness lower than that of others; and/or do not follow all recommended food safety practices, and, consequently, they do not take sufficient precautions to prevent illnesses from occurring. The authors found that food was prepared in the home where there were heavily contaminated areas in the kitchen (refrigerator handles, tap handles, sink drain areas, dishcloths, and sponges) because it is unusual for these surfaces to be frequently washed or cleaned. Additionally, raw or unwashed foods were constantly touched during meal preparation. The authors state that because there is limited guidance for home food preparers, the use of an such an instrument helps evaluate the level of food safety at home, and identifies unsafe practices in food handling for targeted prevention and control strategies though improving consumer knowledge about food and waterborne diseases and their consequence. Farias et al. [ 15 ] certainly developed a method to comprehensively understand the risk of home food preparation in a Brazilian community and presumably would have global value for helping to reduce risks that have led to the annual estimate of 600 million food-borne illnesses worldwide [ 3 ]. Similar studies have been done in the past such as that of Redmond and Griffith [ 16 ] who said that knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and self-reported practices do not correspond to observed behaviors, suggesting that observational studies provide a more realistic indication of the food hygiene actions actually used in domestic food preparation. Only an improvement in consumer food-handling behavior is likely to reduce the risk and incidence of food-borne disease. So, the question remains that unless food preparers are motivated, it may be very hard to change perceptions of risk of illness to themselves or who they serve. As Collins [ 17 ] pointed out 23 years ago, only 50% of consumers were concerned about food safety, partly because of lifestyle changes affecting food behavior, with an increasing number of women in the workforce, limited commitment to food preparation, and a greater number of single heads of households. Then, as now, it may be that consumers appear to be more interested in convenience and saving time than in proper food handling and preparation. Fischer et al. [ 18 ] showed that while most consumers are knowledgeable about the importance of cross-contamination and heating in preventing the occurrence of food-borne illness, this knowledge is not necessarily translated into behavior. Potentially risky behaviors were observed in the domestic food preparation environment with errors like participants allowing raw meat juices to come in contact with the final meal. The authors stated that procedural food safety knowledge (i.e., knowledge proffered after general open questions) was a better predictor of efficacious bacterial reduction than declarative food safety knowledge (i.e., knowledge proffered after formal questioning). This suggests that motivation to prepare safe food was a better indicator of actual behavior than knowledge about food safety per se . Byrd-Bredbenner et al. [ 19 ] point out that adding food safety cues to food packages may be particularly effective given that nearly half of consumers indicate they commonly read cooking instructions on food packages. Moreover, some especially “teachable moments” are after publicized food-borne illness outbreaks or recalls, before major holidays, during the perinatal period, and after being diagnosed with an immune-compromising condition. However, providing food safety information for those at increased risk of poor food-borne illness outcome often is not part of standard clinical practice among health professionals, and role models like athletes do not always demonstrate good food safety practices.

The fourth paper takes the reader from understanding risk perception and risk communication strategies for prevention of food-borne illnesses in homes and restaurants to reviewing mathematical models to help risk managers in making decisions for reducing food-borne disease, in this case the beef industry. Risk assessments have been promoted to address specific issues with the impact of chemical contaminants in the health and environmental fields for over 70 years, but a standardized risk-based food safety management approach was only recommended and adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the last 21 years [ 20 ]. This Commission defined risk analysis as comprising risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication, and all types of contaminants were considered, including microbiological ones which have specific modeling challenges in that pathogens can increase and decrease over the production, transport, storage, and preparation of foods. Microbiological risk assessment is a scientific evaluation that aims to provide an estimation of a risk considering the probability and the severity of health effects caused by a bacterial, viral or parasitic hazard in order to support decision-making processes. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) began in 2000 in response to requests from the Codex Alimentarius Commission and FAO and WHO Member Countries and the increasing need for risk-based scientific advice on microbiological food safety issues. Quantitative microbiological risk assessments (QMRAs) aim at determining the existing public health risk associated with biological hazards in a food using mathematical equations to estimate the change of microbial load after each processing step and then to compare the efficiency of different risk reduction measures [ 21 ]. Model inputs are generated by collecting data or soliciting experts. QMRA models comprise four steps: hazard identification, exposure assessment, hazard characterization, and risk characterization. QRMAs enable experts to estimate the risk to which the population may be exposed, evaluate possible risk mitigation strategies, and generate knowledge for the better management of risks associated with contamination events. The assessment involves measuring known microbial pathogens or indicators and running a Monte Carlo simulation throughout different steps in the food chain to estimate the risk of transfer from the food to the consumer. If a dose–response model is available for the microbe, it would be used to estimate the probability of infection.

The present study of Tesson, Federighi, Cummins, Mota, Guillou, and Boué [ 22 ], entitled A Systematic Review of Beef Meat Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment Models , was to conduct a critical analysis of beef QMRAs to help identify present and future contamination challenges in beef production. The authors’ review was comprehensive with 67 publications selected, but the focus was limited to studies in western countries and for a limited number of pathogens, mainly Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and Salmonella spp. The authors concluded from the QMRAs that there were sufficient public health risks associated with beef meat consumption that specific risk mitigation strategies must be put in place. Because it was difficult to compare the different models used in each study, it was not possible to rank risk mitigation strategies by study in terms of effectiveness or hazards in terms of priority. Nevertheless, the authors highlighted the major risk mitigation strategies. For instance, those for EHEC and Salmonella should have a priority on the reduction of their prevalence before slaughter, e.g., the shedding condition of the animal, and the reduction of cross-contamination on the product, e.g., pathogen dispersion during dehiding, and to a lesser effect during evisceration and splitting; this would be followed by rapid chilling of the carcass to prevent growth of these pathogens and to lessen contamination of the final beef products during fabrication. Because there are limited data on the potential for cross-contamination during transportation from the farm to the slaughterhouse or during holding in the lairage, this step in beef production is difficult to model without a high degree of uncertainty. However, because it is known that lessening the length of the transit and lairage time has been observed to reduce the stress in cattle, in combination of good cleaning procedures for transport trucks and at the lairage, shedding and cross-contamination of enteric pathogens can be reduced by these actions. As a result, it is not necessary to model the whole farm-to-fork chain when trying to address specific risk management questions. In contrast, the authors argue that the strategies to control Listeria monocytogenes should focus on storage steps at retail and at home with information to the consumer, instead of emphasizing all the efforts on the slaughterhouse. Figure 5 in the publication is a useful summary of the most critical points raised in each of the 67 studies with a breakdown by Farm (prevalence of pathogens in cattle feces and hide coats; shedding time), Processing (dehiding and chilling), Retail and Consumer (storage temperature); Consumer (cooking preference and host susceptibility).

The authors conclude that QMRA is a very powerful tool providing valuable insights to assist managers make decisions to reduce the risk of infections arising from consumption of pathogens in beef, but they agree that models can only provide estimations with a level of accuracy that depends on quality and consistency of data for input into these models. Where there are data gaps in the meat production chain from farm to fork, surveys and targeted research should be encouraged to generate the missing information, but data extraction from some of the farm-to-fork steps may be difficult or even almost impossible. Therefore, proposed risk mitigation interventions for these steps may be unrealistic and hence the hazard can remain. However, if the need is great, persistence can achieve positive results. For instance, data gaps were explored to understand why deli meats sliced and packaged in the deli were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes five to seven times more frequently than deli meats sliced and packaged by a processor [ 23 ]. Extensive testing and observations of worker behavior showed that these deli meats tended not to contain added inhibitors; resident L. monocytogenes were present in niches in equipment and spread through cross-contamination from food contact and non-food contact surfaces; and there was lack of adequate sanitation; inadequate temperature control; and inappropriate glove/hand issues. This information was used to create a “virtual deli” model and to generate six baseline situations and 22 scenarios by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Overall, the virtual deli model indicated that the greatest risk was from contamination present in an incoming chub of a product that permitted growth of Listeria . Even products that did not permit growth could still be a significant contributor to listeriosis, from environmental contamination and subsequent cross-contamination to other products. Important environmental factors contributing to risks were worker behaviors, the slicer construction and its maintenance, trash handling, and cleanup operations. The level of contamination at retail delis was found to directly affect the risk, where a two-fold decrease in contamination would result in a 20% reduction in illnesses. The simulation showed that if all deli meat products would have growth inhibitors coupled with appropriate control of temperature and storage time at the consumer’s home there would be fewer cases of listeriosis attributable to deli meats.

In another study, to acquire useful data for the consumer phase of a typical QMRA in the Netherlands, Chardon and Swart [ 27 ] designed a food consumption and food handling survey that was specifically aimed at obtaining quantitative data at the consumer level, typically not otherwise available. For a broad spectrum of food products, the survey covered the following topics: processing status at retail, consumer storage, preparation, and consumption. The final result was a coherent quantitative consumer phase food survey and parameter estimates for food handling and consumption practices in the Netherlands, including variation over individuals and uncertainty estimates. For instance, the survey showed that an average 40% of the fresh meat was stored in the refrigerator, 44% was stored in the freezer, and 18% of the dried sausages and 30% of the eggs were stored at room temperature. The mean storage time in the refrigerator was between 2 and 3 days for fresh meat and fresh meat products and about 4 days for cooked meat products and pâté. For understanding the risks of cross-contamination, 66% of chicken breasts were cut at home, and home-cut ingredients were added to 72% of precut lettuce. When meat and lettuce were prepared at the same time, 52% of the meat was cut before cutting the lettuce. Fortunately, rare and raw preparations of meat products were preferred by only 1 to 5% of the respondents; medium and done cooked food was the preference of the vast majority of those surveyed. However, 8% of respondents consumed steak tartare raw. However, more detailed information is needed on consumer preferences. For instance, products can be fresh or deep-frozen, meat cuts can be intact or consist of combined meat pieces, and beef can be mechanically tenderized with needles; not all these differences are known or acknowledged by consumers for food safety concerns.

It is not always necessary to conduct a full QRMA to achieve a risk management goal for meat production. Pointon et al. [ 28 ] used qualitative risk assessments and expert opinion to develop a framework for profiling and managing risks associated with red meat-borne food safety hazards. Inputs included known ruminant food-borne pathogens Clostridium perfringens , Campylobacter jejuni , enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp.; increase the shedding and transmission of pathogens by co-mingling of animals, as well as intensive rearing methods and stress (such as starvation and transport). The risk profile showed that there were low-risk ratings for pathogens in raw meats (products with a terminal cooking step) and for cooked cured meats. Uncooked comminuted fermented meats (UCFM) were ranked as low risk when the process was adequate enough to inactivate the expected loading of pathogens on incoming raw ingredients. Risk ratings were higher for L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meat products, for Salmonella in kebabs and for enterohemorrhagic E. coli and Salmonella in UCFM where the process was not adequate to inactivate these hazards in raw materials.

QMRAs can be combined with the use of the Codex Alimentarius’ newly adopted risk management metrics to improve public health outcomes. By estimating the food safety objective (the maximum frequency and/or concentration of a hazard in a food at the time of consumption) and the performance objective (the maximum frequency and/or concentration of a hazard in a food at a specified step in the food chain before the time of consumption), risk managers will have a better understanding of the appropriate level of protection (ALOP) from microbial hazards for public health protection. Crouch et al. [ 29 ] explored such a combination that allows identification of an ALOP and evaluation of corresponding metrics at appropriate points in the meat food chain with the example of a Monte Carlo QMRA for Clostridium perfringens in ready-to-eat and partially cooked meat and poultry products. For demonstration purposes, the QMRA model was applied specifically to hot dogs produced and consumed in the United States. Evaluation of the cumulative uncertainty distribution for illness rate allows a specification of an ALOP that, with defined confidence, corresponds to current industry practices; ALOPs considered were 13–21 C. perfringens illnesses per million servings of hot dogs where the prevalence of the pathogen in hot dog servings would be 0.72–1.76%.

The last of the five papers in this Issue, Prevention and Control of Food-borne Diseases in Middle-East North African Countries: Review of National Control Systems is by Faour-Klingbeil and Todd [ 30 ] who discuss how a region, in this case Middle-East North African (MENA) countries, tackles prevention and control of food-borne diseases, where for the most part there are limited industry and governmental scientific and economic resources. Most of this region is arid with limited rainfall that impacts agriculture and much of the food has to be imported. The 14 WHO global subregions have considerably different burdens of food-borne disease, with the greatest falling on the subregions in Africa, followed by the subregions in South-East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean subregion because of adverse environmental and economic conditions. More specifically, one reason why some parts of the world suffer more from food and waterborne diseases is that the public health structure may be compromised, and their prevention and control strategies, including their regulatory standards, local enforcement, educational programs, surveillance and epidemiological information systems, and applied research towards advanced technologies, are less well developed [ 31 ]. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region contains most of the MENA countries with an estimated 100 million people living in this region suffering from food-borne illness, mainly from nontyphoidal Salmonella, E. coli , norovirus, and Campylobacter [ 3 ]. Despite most of these countries having similar cultures, there are great economic disparities among them with Yemen and Palestinian Gaza existing in extreme poverty at one end compared Gulf countries flush with oil revenues at the other. Several MENA countries have had histories of civil wars, some on-going as in Libya, Syria and Yemen. Over the years, many of these countries have the interest, but not the will to modernize their food safety oversight systems. The authors suggest that they should manage their national food safety programs based on risk analysis with an integrated farm-to-table approach [ 32 ], and use the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) working principles, and the Procedural Manual [ 19 ], and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems (NFCS) comprising of Laws and regulations; Food control management; Inspection services; Food monitoring and epidemiological Data; and Communication, information, education, and training as recommended by the FAO [ 33 , 34 ].

There is great diversity in these countries for the establishment and effectiveness of food safety legislation. For example, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) was established in 2003 as an independent body directly reporting to the Prime Minister with the responsibility to regulate, oversee, and control food, drug, medical devices, and the Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO) was established within the Gulf countries with the aim to harmonize the Standards and Technical Regulations of member countries based on Codex Alimentarius and in efforts to meet the requirements the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures Agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In contrast, Lebanon is still working on the legislation required to enter the WTO while facing many challenges of sectarian and political turmoil, the failure of economic growth, and massive influx of refugees from Syria. Lebanon passed its food safety law as late as 2016 after drafts had been discussed as early as 2004, with a view to establish public governance of food safety. Before the publication of the 2016 Food Safety Law, there were nine government agencies dealing with food safety, but there was no coordination among them [ 35 ]. The Food Safety Lebanese Commission (FSLC) was given responsibilities under the Law to build-up the system of food safety and sub-systems in all the ministries and organizations, and to establish by-laws and policies that would be implemented under the Council of Ministers. The FSLC was also tasked with developing education and training of professionals through academic institutions for the food industry, setting up the means for well-trained inspectors to monitor the food supply and accreditations for new laboratories. The challenge for the FSLC will be for its recommendations to be accepted by existing food safety agencies and at the cabinet level, especially today under conditions of civil unrest and economic hardship. These issues are not unique to Lebanon where weak governments combined with powerful external lobbyists can delay or minimize effective prevention and control measures for food safety. Another example is in Palestine, where the current food safety legislations are not harmonized with international standards [ 30 ].

Priority for food safety sometimes only occurs after a number of food scares are sufficient to mobilize the public to demand change. It was not until January 2017 when the Egyptian Parliament established the National Food Safety Authority (NFSA) to exclusively assume the responsibilities and jurisdiction of all ministries, public institutions, government agencies, and municipalities in relation to supervision over the handling of foodstuff with the aim to improve the regulatory oversight and efficiency in the food system. This is one step beyond the Lebanese FSLC, which has to collaborate with other agencies. Nevertheless, an agency having been given complete authority does not necessarily translate into safer food for the residents of Egypt or for products exported to other countries. Although the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a federal law on food safety passed in 2016, food safety control in the emirates of Dubai and Sharjah is managed at the municipal level, and Dubai has established an international reputation for hosting the annual Dubai International Food Safety Conferences well before the law was promulgated. For the most part, food-borne diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are still generally not well understood because of the ineffective food-borne illness surveillance and many illness cases are perceived as mild and self-limiting or unverified due to gaps in detection, surveillance and reporting by authorities. This partly reflects on the commitment of agencies to support sufficient numbers of qualified inspectors and testing laboratories to monitor the food supply. Where surveillance exists, reportable diseases in many of these countries tend to include food poisoning as a catch-all rather than list specific food-borne diseases, and the agent is not necessarily required to be identified during an investigation.

PulseNet Middle East was established in 2006 with 10 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region participating for molecular surveillance of food-borne infectious diseases using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), but it has yet to play a large role in identifying agents and factors contributing to illness, and recalling contaminated products in the Region. Since Whole Genomic Sequencing (WGS) has largely taken over from PFGE testing in Western nations, it remains to be seen if MENA countries can utilize molecular surveillance more effectively for improving food safety for the public. Even if a country has the capability to use WGS, it may not be effective unless linked to an overall surveillance and management structure such as a National Food Control System [ 30 ]. Aggressive closure of food facilities by inspectors, sometimes in collaboration with the local police force, can occur after publicly-reported food poisonings, or violations identified during an inspection, such as ‘eating spoiled foods’ to be used as deterrents for perceived compliance failures. During these closures, owners are forced financially to let go their employees temporarily. Unfortunately, these limited investigations often fail to determine the source of causative agents or to recommend educational advice to avoid future to risk behavior. Fines can also be imposed on the owners of these facilities which may be encouraged as an important source of revenue for cash-strapped public health agencies. It is difficult to ascertain the burden of food-borne diseases in many Middle Eastern countries especially when rural areas may see less inspection than in urban centers, and these are more likely to be underestimated than in western nations. As the authors state, inspection activities in the majority of the countries follow a reactive approach relying on end-products sampling, focusing on sanitation, personal hygiene, food labels instead of risk-based preventive approaches.

Governments in MENA countries tend not to be directly involved in promoting food safety training, and where these exist, they are the responsibility of the private sector, or are sponsored by non-governmental organizations, for programs like understanding and developing targeted hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plans. A driver for training for safe food is more linked to satisfying importers in other countries. The 2011 U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act [ 36 ] gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to require exporters to the United States to satisfy certain criteria before they are allowed to export products, such as requiring that high-risk imported foods be accompanied by a credible third party certification or other assurance of compliance as a condition of entry into the U.S. High-risk products include those implicated in food-borne illnesses such as sesame-seed based tahini and other seed products, nuts, berries as well as meat and dairy foods. The authors conclude that there has to be more research and scientific outputs to understand the local food chain systems, to strengthen the food-borne disease surveillance systems, and to further develop capacity building programs to build NFCS using a risk-based approach to prevention and control of food-borne disease.

Several countries in the MENA region have made substantial efforts in improving their food safety systems and in some cases, in unifying the food control activities under one central agency. However, many challenges are still encountered due to ineffective surveillance systems, lack of communication among stakeholders, and limited, sometimes absent, food control functions along the food supply chain. MENA countries have limited capacity to enforce the law and implement food safety policies on a large scale and foster inter-communications among stakeholders.

These guidelines provide information for government agencies to assist in the development of national food control systems (NFCS) and to promote effective collaboration between stakeholders involved in the management and control of food safety and quality. However, different risk management decisions could be made at national levels according to different criteria and different ranges of risk management options.

In conclusion, these five papers add to our knowledge of how to understand why preventing and controlling food-borne illness is so difficult. Consumers and the public in general react to broadcast news and nowadays social media, as well as their base culture, for setting their anchoring of how they perceive risks of illness from eating specific food items. Food scares and epidemics/pandemics often reset perceptions which may last for many years depending on how much coverage the public is exposed to. The science through risk assessments and epidemiological investigations can weigh the risks of food-borne illness to a population to help governments and industry react appropriately with interventions and advice, but how much is absorbed and acted on by the public depends on the following factors: (1) trust in the responsible agency or company; (2) the acceptable level of risk communication for lay audiences; (3) the variety of communication approaches, and the duration of the messages over an extended period of time.

Essay On Food Poisoning

Food poisoning happen all too frequently. Food contaminated with bacteria and left to sit at room temperature, or in warm weather, for any length of time, can become a source of foodborne disease. Unlike spoiled food which often fosters off-odors, mold, slime and other decay, food tainted with bacteria may show no detectable signs of contamination. In fact, there may be no changes in the usual appearance, taste, or odor of the food . Bacteria are not the only generators of foodborne disease. Viruses, parasites, and environmental contaminants can also give rise to food-related illnesses as well. Symptoms of foodborne disease can range from mild and uncomfortable to severe and life threatening, depending on the type and amount of contaminant consumed. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and persons who are already ill, are the most at risk for food infection. In some cases, symptoms may not develop until a week or more after eating the food. Most foodborne diseases fall under one of five main groupings as described below. A listing of potential food sources and symptoms of some foodborne …show more content…

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Food Poisoning: Care Instructions

Top of the page

Food poisoning occurs when you eat foods that contain harmful germs. Food can be contaminated while it is growing, during processing, or when it is prepared. Fresh fruits and vegetables also can be contaminated if they are washed in contaminated water. You may have become ill after eating undercooked meat or eggs or other unsafe foods. Cooking foods thoroughly and storing them properly can help prevent food poisoning.

There are many types of food poisoning. Your symptoms depend on the type of food poisoning you have. You will probably begin to feel better in a few days. In the meantime, get plenty of rest and make sure that you do not become dehydrated.

Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety. Be sure to make and go to all appointments, and call your doctor if you are having problems. It's also a good idea to know your test results and keep a list of the medicines you take.

• How can you care for yourself at home?
• To prevent dehydration, drink plenty of fluids. Choose water and other clear liquids until you feel better. You can take frequent sips of a rehydration drink (such as Pedialyte). Soda, fruit juices, and sports drinks have too much sugar and not enough of the important electrolytes that are lost during diarrhea. These kinds of drinks should not be used to rehydrate. If you have kidney, heart, or liver disease and have to limit fluids, talk with your doctor before you increase the amount of fluids you drink.
• When you feel like eating again, start with small amounts of food.
• Take your medicines as prescribed. Call your doctor if you think you are having a problem with your medicine. You will get more details on the specific medicines your doctor prescribes.

To prevent food poisoning

• Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.
• Do not eat meats, dressings, salads, or other foods that have been kept at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
• Use a thermometer to check your refrigerator. It should be between 34°F and 40°F.
• Defrost meats in the refrigerator or microwave, not on the kitchen counter.
• Keep your hands and your kitchen clean. Wash your hands, cutting boards, and countertops with hot, soapy water. If you use the same cutting board for chopping vegetables and preparing raw meat, be sure to wash the cutting board with hot, soapy water between each use.
• Cook meat until it is well done.
• Do not eat raw eggs or uncooked dough or sauces made with raw eggs.
• Do not take chances. If you think food looks or tastes spoiled, throw it out.
• When should you call for help?

Call 911 anytime you think you may need emergency care. For example, call if:

• You passed out (lost consciousness).
• You vomited blood.

Call your doctor now or seek immediate medical care if:

• You have new or worse belly pain.
• You have a new or higher fever.
• You are dizzy or lightheaded, or you feel like you may faint.
• Dry eyes and a dry mouth.
• Passing only a little urine.
• Feeling thirstier than normal.
• You cannot keep down medicine or fluids.
• You have new or more blood in stools.
• You have new or worse vomiting or diarrhea.

Watch closely for changes in your health, and be sure to contact your doctor if:

• You do not get better as expected.
• Where can you learn more?

Go to http://www.healthwise.net/patientEd 

Enter C880 in the search box to learn more about "Food Poisoning: Care Instructions".

Current as of: June 12, 2023

Author: Healthwise Staff 

Clinical Review Board  All Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.

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Food Poisoning and Safe Food Handling

• Condition Basics

What is food poisoning?

Food poisoning is an illness caused by eating foods that have harmful germs in them. These germs are mostly found in raw meat, chicken, fish, and eggs, but they can spread to any type of food. They can also grow on food that's left out on counters or outdoors or is stored too long before you eat it. Sometimes food poisoning happens when people don't wash their hands before they touch food.

Most of the time, food poisoning is mild and goes away after a few days. All you can do is wait for your body to get rid of the germ that's causing the illness. But some types of food poisoning may be more serious, and you may need to see a doctor.

What causes it?

Food poisoning is caused by eating or drinking food contaminated by harmful germs, such as bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Harmful germs may get into food when it's prepared or processed or when it's washed with contaminated water.

What are the symptoms?

The first symptom of food poisoning is usually diarrhea. You may also feel sick to your stomach, vomit, or have stomach cramps. Some food poisoning can cause a high fever and blood in your stool. If you vomit or have diarrhea a lot, you can get dehydrated .

How is it diagnosed?

If you go to the doctor, you will be asked about your symptoms and general health. You'll get a physical exam. Your doctor will ask where you've been eating and whether anyone who ate the same foods is also sick. Sometimes the doctor will take stool or blood samples to be tested.

How is food poisoning treated?

Treatment for food poisoning focuses on managing symptoms, like vomiting and diarrhea. You'll need to rest and get plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration . Diarrhea medicines may help, but they shouldn't be used for children or people with a high fever or bloody diarrhea. For severe dehydration, you may need treatment in the hospital.

How can you prevent it?

You can prevent most cases of food poisoning with simple steps. For example, wash your hands before touching foods. Separate raw meat from other foods, and make sure meats are cooked well. Refrigerate leftovers right away.

Food poisoning is caused by eating or drinking food contaminated by harmful germs, such as bacteria, parasites, and viruses.

Germs can get into food:

Bacteria live in the intestines of healthy animals used for food. Sometimes the bacteria get mixed up with the parts of those animals that we eat.

If the water that's used to irrigate or wash fresh fruits and vegetables has germs from animal manure or human sewage in it, those germs can get on the fruits and vegetables.

When there are germs on the hands of someone who touches the food, or if the food touches other food that has germs on it, the germs can spread. Germs from raw meat can get onto vegetables if you use the same cutting board for both, for example. Home-canned foods that haven't been prepared properly may contain germs.

• Salmonellosis
• Food Poisoning: Vibrio Vulnificus
• E. Coli Infection From Food or Water
• Food Poisoning: Clostridium Perfringens
• Hepatitis A
• Food Poisoning: Toxoplasmosis
• Listeriosis
• Campylobacteriosis
• Marine Toxins
• Shigellosis
• Noroviruses (Norwalk Viruses)
• Staph Food Poisoning

You can prevent most cases of food poisoning by being careful when you prepare and store food.

The following steps can help prevent food poisoning.

Don't buy canned foods that are dented, leaking, or bulging. Get your refrigerated and frozen foods at the end of your shopping trip. Bag raw meat, poultry, and fish separately from other food items. And try to go straight home after you shop, so you can store food properly.

Wash your hands before and after handling food. Wash cutting boards with hot soapy water. Wash fruits and vegetables, but don't wash raw meat. Follow procedures for safe home canning to avoid contamination.

Cook, refrigerate, or freeze meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and ready-to-eat foods within 2 hours. Make sure your refrigerator is set at 40°F (4°C) or colder.

Keep raw meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and shellfish away from other foods, surfaces, utensils, and serving plates.

Thaw these foods in the refrigerator, not at room temperature. And cook food right away after thawing.

Do not eat raw or partially cooked eggs (including cookie dough), raw (unpasteurized) milk, cheeses made with raw milk, or unpasteurized juices.

Use a clean meat thermometer to make sure that foods are cooked to a safe temperature. Reheat leftovers to at least 165°F (74°C) . Don't eat undercooked hamburger. Bring sauces, gravies, and soups to a boil when reheating. And be aware of the risk of food poisoning from raw fish (including sushi), clams, and oysters.

Keep cooked hot foods hot [ 140°F (60°C) or above] and cold foods cold [ 40°F (4°C) or below]. And chill leftovers as soon as you finish eating.

These labels provide information about when to use the food and how to store it.

If you aren't sure if a food is safe, don't eat it. Reheating food that is contaminated won't make it safe. Don't taste suspicious food. It may smell and look fine. But it still may not be safe to eat.

• Note the general cleanliness of the facility and staff. If you aren't confident that conditions are sanitary, leave.
• Find out the inspection scores of selected restaurants. (They are sometimes posted in the restaurant.) Restaurants are inspected by the local health department for cleanliness and proper kitchen procedures.
• Food Safety: Preparing
• Hand-Washing
• Food Safety: Tips for Grocery Shopping
• Food Safety: Cooking
• Food Safety: Storing

The first symptom of food poisoning is usually diarrhea. You may also feel sick to your stomach, vomit, or have stomach cramps. Some food poisoning can cause a high fever and blood in your stool.

If you vomit or have diarrhea a lot, you can get dehydrated . This means that your body has lost too much fluid.

Some types of food poisoning have different or more severe symptoms. These can include weakness, numbness, confusion, or tingling of the face, hands, and feet.

How you feel when you have food poisoning mostly depends on how healthy you are and what germ is making you sick.

For very young and very old people, symptoms may last longer. Even the types of food poisoning that are typically mild can be life-threatening. This may also be true for people who are pregnant or who have weak immune systems , such as those who have long-lasting (chronic) illnesses.

• What Happens

You may become ill with food poisoning after you eat food that contains bacteria, viruses, or other harmful germs.

After you eat a contaminated food, you may notice symptoms after a few hours or days. The harmful germs pass through the stomach into the intestine and start to multiply. Some organisms stay in the intestine. Some produce a toxin that is absorbed into the bloodstream. And others infect body tissues. Your symptoms depend on the type of germ that has infected you.

Diarrhea and vomiting are a normal response as the body tries to rid itself of harmful germs.

Most of the time, food poisoning is mild and passes in a few days. But the symptoms of some types of food poisoning may be more severe. In rare cases, food poisoning can cause kidney or joint damage.

• When to Call a Doctor

Call 911 or other emergency services immediately if:

• You have sudden, severe belly pain.
• You have signs of severe dehydration. These include little or no urine; sunken eyes, no tears, and a dry mouth and tongue; fast breathing and heartbeat; feeling very dizzy or lightheaded; and not feeling or acting alert.
• You think you may have food poisoning from a canned food and you have symptoms of botulism (blurred or double vision, trouble swallowing or breathing, and muscle weakness).

Call your doctor now if:

• You have severe diarrhea (large amounts of loose stool every 1 to 2 hours) that lasts longer than 2 days if you are an adult.
• You have vomiting that lasts longer than 1 day if you are an adult.
• You are pregnant and believe that you have been exposed to listeriosis or toxoplasmosis .

Talk to your doctor if:

• You have symptoms of mild dehydration (dry mouth or passing only a little urine) that get worse even with home treatment.
• You have a fever.
• You aren't feeling better after 1 week of home treatment.

If you think you have eaten contaminated food, call your local Poison Control Center. They can answer questions and tell you what to do next.

Watchful waiting

Watchful waiting is a wait-and-see approach.

Watchful waiting may be okay if you have diarrhea, stomach cramps, and other symptoms of a stomach infection ( gastroenteritis ). Most people recover from these gastrointestinal illnesses at home in several days without medical treatment. Likewise, some cases of bacterial food poisoning are mild and pass in several days.

Check your symptoms

• Toxoplasmosis During Pregnancy
• Exams and Tests

Most people don't go to the doctor to get diagnosed. That's because most food poisoning is mild and goes away after a few days. You can usually assume that you have food poisoning if others who ate the same food also got sick.

If you go to the doctor, you'll be asked about your symptoms and health and get a physical exam. Your doctor will ask where you've been eating and whether anyone who ate the same foods is also sick. Sometimes the doctor will take stool or blood samples to be tested.

If you think you have food poisoning, call your local health department to report it. This could help keep others from getting sick.

• Stool Culture
• Complete Blood Count (CBC)
• Treatment Overview

Treatment for food poisoning focuses on managing symptoms, such as vomiting and diarrhea. You'll need to rest and get plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration . The goal of treatment is to replace fluids and electrolytes lost through vomiting and diarrhea.

If dehydration is severe and can't be managed at home, you may need treatment in the hospital. Fluids and electrolytes may be given to you through a needle in your vein.

Medicines that stop diarrhea (such as Imodium) can help with your symptoms. But these medicines shouldn't be used for children or for people with a high fever or bloody diarrhea. Antibiotics are rarely used. They're only given for certain types of food poisoning or in severe cases.

In most cases, food poisoning goes away on its own in a few days.

Most cases of food poisoning will go away in a few days with rest and care at home. Dehydration is the most frequent complication of food poisoning. Older persons and children should take special precautions to prevent it.

The following information will help you recover.

Choose water and other clear liquids until you feel better. You can take frequent sips of a rehydration drink (such as Pedialyte) to prevent dehydration.

Sports drinks, soda pop, and fruit juices contain too much sugar and not enough of the important electrolytes that are lost during diarrhea. These kinds of drinks shouldn't be used to rehydrate.

When you feel like eating again, start out with small amounts of food. This will help you to get enough nutrition.

Caring for your child

Dehydration is the most frequent problem caused by food poisoning. Be extra careful to prevent dehydration in children .

For children who are breastfed or bottle-fed, keep giving the regular breast milk or formula feeding as much as possible. You may have to feed more often to replace lost fluids. Give an oral rehydration solution (ORS), such as Pedialyte, between feedings only if you see signs of dehydration.

For older children, give them sips of water or a rehydration drink often. And offer small amounts of food when they feel like eating again.

• Dehydration
• Related Information
• Diarrhea, Age 11 and Younger
• Diarrhea, Age 12 and Older
• Gastroenteritis in Adults and Older Children

Current as of: June 12, 2023

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Preventing Food Poisoning: Safety Measures and Symptoms

Unfortunately, few people think about food poisoning. Instead, everyone believes that the luck is on his or her side and the chances to get infected are rather lower. However, it is recommended not to underestimate the risks. By acting like this, an individual may put his or her life in jeopardy. There is a variety of ways of how to prevent food intoxication. Each individual should learn them and never forget to keep oneself and close people safe. Those people who have animal companions at home should be extremely careful. However, others also should not relax because harmful microorganisms cannot wait to get into a person’s organism and make it suffer. Food poisoning should be prevented because it leads to such negative consequences as nausea, vomiting, pain, dizziness, high temperature, infecting other people, and, in some cases, death.

While cooking, a person should be careful with the products of the animal origin. The examples of such products are meat, eggs, and dairy food. When this food is raw, the person should not allow the pieces of it to get into other products. It is also wrong to let these products or food cooked with their usage stay in a room for a long time. The faster the person puts them into the fridge, the safer he or she will be. When the individual is frying meat, he or she should check it with a knife from time to time to assure there is no visible blood. Those people who prefer a raw steak should either learn the technology of cooking it in the right way or better try it elsewhere. For beginners, such a device as a thermometer will become rather essential in the kitchen. Some people state that raw eggs are healthy, especially for voice. Maybe, they are; but it is better to think carefully before eating it raw. The person should decide what is prior to him or her: good health or wonderful voice. When the individual purchases meat and eggs, it is advisable to read a sign on the package to be sure it is still fit for human consumption. It is clear that most individuals are in a hurry when they go shopping. Searching for this information takes time. Nevertheless, it is significant because people that work at supermarkets do not always manage to take away spoiled goods in time. It happens because their variety is vast. If the expiration date is close, the individual should choose something else because, for example, one person will not probably eat a dozen of eggs in two days. Before cooking, the individual should read the sign on the package again. When the person purchases dairy foods, he or she should choose a qualitative, well-known, and, most importantly, certified food. Otherwise, there is a chance that the producer has not ensured the proper pasteurization of this product. This mistake may lead to the contamination with Campylobacter, i.e. a bacterium that will bring unpleasant feelings to the individual for two to five days. Listeria may also be present in such milk; and its bad effects will last for nine to forty-eight hours.

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The person should do the same with fish. People who like sushi should be extremely careful because this dish is very dangerous. The expiration date of this meal is no more than several hours. Even if the person eats sushi in a good restaurant, it is still preferable to ask a chef to fry the fish unless this individual is in Japan. Taking into account a big number of orders, the employees of a restaurant may cheat and freeze the prepared sushi and serve a dish that is not fresh. Beside sushi, the person should be careful when he or she chooses a place to eat anything, “A new study finds that you twice as likely to get food poisoning dining out compared to eating in” (Preidt n. p.). As for shellfish, its expiration date is even shorter than that of fish. It is not advisable to order takeouts containing raw prawns at all. The dish will be spoiled before it gets to the individual. In restaurants, if people receive the meal that contains either meat or eggs that turn to be undercooked, they should ask a waiter to replace it with a properly cooked one. Moreover, it is advisable to demand a clean plate and flatware.

When dealing with raw products of the animal origin, the person should learn several important rules. Firstly, it is crucial to wash hands with soap, if possible, with the antibacterial one. Secondly, the person should do the same with a knife and a chopping board. It is advisable to use hot or at least warm water, but in none case cold. Chopping boards made of wood are not advisable to use because it is more difficult to clean them. There are also some rules for the process of thawing products. First of all, the individual should not thaw products in the kitchen or elsewhere. Instead, it is advisable to do it in a fridge. After this process, the person should never thaw this product again or it will get spoiled. It is significant to fix the temperature in the fridge and the deepfreeze at a certain level: forty and zero degrees Fahrenheit accordingly.

Although it may sound too trivial, but people should not forget to wash fruit or vegetables before consuming. It is connected with raw products, of course. Companies that grow these goods often use fertilizers and poison being dangerous for human health. Moreover, if an apple looks rather artificial and is not brown, then someone may have waxed its rind. In this case, it is important to wash it for longer, or even rinse it with the boiling-hot water. Parents should not leave dirty fruit and vegetables in the places where little children can reach them. A consumer should be aware of the fact that juice and cider must undergo pasteurization as well. Juice that is sold in sealed containers has undergone this process though it is not always mentioned on the container. It is significant to be careful with home-canned products. If the person does not know the technology, it is better to avoid doing it not to endanger the health of those who will consume this food. Improper-canned food may contain Clostridium botulinum. It is a bacterium that will make the individual suffer from twelve to seventy-two hours.

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If the person already has any symptoms of food poisoning, especially diarrhea or vomiting, then it is forbidden to be engaged in cooking for other individuals. This rule is mostly connected with cooking for individuals whose immune system is not very strong. It may include such categories as, for example, children, pregnant women, and the old ones. In this case, these categories of people are more likely to catch an infection. Individuals, whose immune system is not so strong, should also adhere to certain rules to be safe. For example, soft ripened cheese is not advisable. Among this kind of cheese are feta, Camembert, Mexican-style, Brie, and blue-veined cheese. Other kinds of cheese are not dangerous. Breastfeeding is better for babies, “Mother’s milk is the safest food for young infants. Breastfeeding may prevent many food-borne illnesses and other health problems” (“Food Poisoning Prevention” 1).

In general, after each time when the individual goes out, washing hands using the soap is the first thing to do after he or she has arrived home. Even if it seems for this person that he or she has touched nothing, it is better to follow this rule. The chance to get infection decreases. Of course, this rule is default before every eating occasion. If the individual forgets to wash hands, then he or she can be infected by Salmonella. These bacteria may lead to diarrhea. Moreover, if the person has a child, then washing hands often is crucial not only for the safety of the kid. This process makes him or her learn that it washing hands is a must.

Beside the methods to prevent this dangerous situation, it is significant to mention its symptoms. Although death is the utmost result of food poisoning, other symptoms are also rather unpleasant. In most cases, such individual has a diarrhea that can be either watery or bloody. This infection is often followed by either nausea or vomiting or even both. The person can also have a fever and suffer from pain in an area of stomach. Sometimes the individual’s sight becomes worse temporarily, he or she may feel rather weak, lightheaded, thirsty, and dizzy. However, the symptoms will be different for each source of poisoning. After the contamination, symptoms can start in several hours. However, in some cases, it will take days or several weeks for them to begin. In some cases, the person should be treated immediately. Otherwise, there is a possibility that some of organs will be damaged. It happens when the food poisoning is not regular, but toxic or even chemical. There is a way to recognize this poisoning: “Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, dizziness, tearing in the eyes, excessive salivation, mental confusion, and stomach pain, beginning about 30 minutes after eating contaminated food” (“Understanding Food Poisoning” n. p.).

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To conclude, if not prevented, food intoxication may endanger the individual’s health by causing problems with his or her intestine, digestion, and the general state of health and even threaten the life. To avoid it, the individual should always keep to certain rules and be careful when he or she chooses a restaurant or other public place to eat in. The person should not forget that even one mistake during cooking may be disastrous. The most basic, but significant rule is to wash hands using the soap as often as possible.

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Food Safety: How to Avoid Food Poisoning

31 Aug 2022

Format: APA

Academic level: College

Paper type: Research Paper

Words: 1408

Downloads: 0

Incidences of foodborne diseases in the United States have increased significantly. This has made it necessary for government institutions to work towards containing the situation by doing whatever necessary to eliminate the diseases. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is on the forefront seeking to minimize the prevalence of foodborne ailments in addition to ensuring safe food supply by way of supporting research and also education incentives that are likely to offer valuable assistance. Besides, it has become fundamental to address some of the priority issues pertaining to food safety in order to ensure that people get to consume safe food regardless of where they purchase it from. The benefit of getting to adopt a program which is capable of ensuring the safety of food products is of critical essence. Through regulations such as licensing and also regular checks, it is possible that the consumer will be in a position to get safe food commodities at all times. 

Food Safety Program 

The food and safety program available involves the aspect of licensing and inspecting all the local restaurants within the region. Further areas that are expected to undergo the same process under the program are: Convenience stores, mobile food vendors, grocery stores, caterers, vending machines and temporary food vendors. This is one of the significant methods that has been established in a bid to minimize the risk of food borne diseases. Besides, this is in line with the Uniform Food Safety Code. Another key initiative in this program is the initiation of investigations relating to food borne ailments established via complaints made by members of the public. Moreover, another important agenda involves educating the local food managers and handlers through various training incentives such as Level 1 person-in-charge and level 2 food certification incentives. 

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The program is adequately implemented to protect the public. For instance, it advocates for safe quality food (SQF). This form of certification ensures that food of high quality and safety is offered to clients. It is essential since it regulates food products across the entire chain from their production until the reach the end user. There are several significant benefits that accrue owing to SQF. For instance, it appears as the only scheme which manages to integrate quality and food safety ( McSweeney, Calvo & Billman-Jacobe, 2016 ). Owing to its existence in the program, it has also become possible for the authorities to succeed in eliminating multiple and repetitive auditing schemes. It also manages to offer protection to the brand integrity of various entities. Further still, customers are assured of the safety standards of food with packaging being monitored in a bid to improve the quality and safety for foods. By depending on the SQF initiative, it is possible to offer independent certification thus making it convenient for various retailers and providers of food services. Moreover, need arises requiring the maintenance of hazard analysis critical control point and also quality management systems for foods. Having such an incentive is beneficial since it manages to offer assurance to both the consumers and the sellers regarding the quality and safety standards of food. There are incidences where the retailer may end up purchasing food that is deemed unfit for consumption unknowingly. With the existence of such standards, it is highly unlikely that this would occur. 

There are further regulations requiring that any person who is seeking to establish a temporary food establishment should first apply for the temporary food establishment permit. This is bound to ensure that some investigations can be conducted to ascertain the safety of food which the vendor is seeking to offer customers. Permanent establishments are, on the other hand, classified in several risk categories. The first group, for instance, involves those that offer hazardous food commodities. The second one comprises of those responsible for providing commercially processed products. For the third category, it may include institutions which cook raw meat or offer unpasteurized products. For the fourth segment, businesses offering potentially hazardous commodities are included. The fifth classification involves establishments which are responsible for delivering food commodities to consumers, for instance, pizza ( Johnston & Yurman, 2018 ). It may also include bakeries and grocery stores. Further businesses that may have been classified under the category are those that smoke food. The program, nonetheless, exempts mandatory permits when religious and charitable endeavors which provide foods and beverages are involved. This is, however, only applies if the foods being offered are non-hazardous. This also applies to the churches who offer members food products at no fee, farmer`s market, in the event that non-hazardous pre-packaged products are being sold, and also ice cream vendors selling pre-packaged commodities. The viability of the program in enhancing food safety can thereby not be underestimated. 

Educational Brief 

It is possible for the public to protect themselves from foodborne illness. Prevention is touted as the ultimate goal of consumers rather than obtaining treatment for some of the preventable conditions. Part of the responsibility falls under the jurisdiction of the authorities who are mandated to initiate strict regulations through various regulatory agencies. Food safety has to begin at individuals` home. For instance, it is important for the general public to clean their hands and surfaces regularly. It is possible for germs capable of causing food poising to survive in many areas especially in the kitchen. In this respect, every food related business has an obligation to clean its premises and the kitchen on a daily basis. This will minimize the possibility of an aspect of foodborne diseases arising. Moreover, people ought to clean their hands before cooking or touching any food (Minor, Hawkes, McLaughlin, Park & Calvin, 2019) . This implies that the food businesses also ought to provide such an incentive to the client in order to reduce any incidences of poisoning which are capable of occurring. Also when dealing with meat products, it is important for different varieties to be placed separately. Differing cutting boards, for instance can be used to cut different varieties of meat. Juices from meat commodities also have to be kept away from other food products to prevent contamination. 

It is also important of the food to be cooked at the right temperatures which are capable of killing harmful germs. Food thermometers are available for use in the kitchen and individuals can make use of them to ascertain that their food is fully cooked before consumption. Various temperature variations have been offered for different food products. For example, 145 0 F for meat such as pork and beef, 160 0 F for ground meats, 165 0 F for poultry and also 165 0 F for casseroles ( Minor et al., 2019 ). Also, refrigerators are best when kept below 40 0 and also, any perishable food commodities have to be refrigerated within 2 hours. Thawing of food should be undertaking using water and not on the counter in order to avoid buildup of bacteria. Some individuals tend to have strong immune systems whereas this is not the case for others, thus, it is important to adhere to the brief in order to minimize any likelihood of foodborne diseases. 

Efficiently implementing and evaluating Food Safety 

In order to efficiently implement and evaluate one`s food safety and health outreach program, it is fundamental to begin by educating individuals on the real benefits of maintaining safety in regards to consumption. Rolling out education initiatives could be done by creating pamphlets which are offered to individuals detailing some of the important things that they ought to adhere to in order to minimize the occurrence of any food related ailments. Also, the people coming up with the program have to sensitize the food service providers regarding the same initiatiatives. This could, for instance, be done by showing them the likely consequences for failing to adhere to certain guidelines. It is possible for a client to file a legal suite against an establishment for offering food that is unfit for consumption. By setting rules, therefore, it is important for business to be shown that their safety is under consideration since it emerges that they have complied with the standards of safety provided, it could be possible for them to offer a defense in the event that rouge customers seeking to profit from them decide to sue them. 

Discussions also ought to be held across all levels of the food chain before initiating policies that are going to be used. Such consultation will ensure that there are no disgruntled traders who are likely to oppose the program. This is also likely to make it possible to create favorable policies for use by all individuals. While evaluating an outreach program it is important to consider whether it is impartial and also suites the needs of both the customers and businesses. One can also compare the outreach program with those already established in other areas so that they can manage to come up with more formidable laws. Besides, investigations on incidences pertaining to foodborne diseases ought to be conducted in order to ensure that regulations protecting consumers from such occurrences are established. The policies generated are, however, amendable in the future, and thus one should not be deterred and end up establishing biased guidelines. 

References 

Johnston, J. M., & Yurman, R. (2018). The Case of Food Safety Policy.  Intergovernmental Relations in Transition: Reflections and Directions , 44. 

McSweeney, P., Calvo, J., & Billman-Jacobe, H. (2016). Food safety program design for a food manufacturing process--Case Study. 

Minor, T., Hawkes, G., McLaughlin, E. W., Park, K. S., & Calvin, L. (2019). Food Safety Requirements for Produce Growers: Retailer Demands and the Food Safety Modernization Act. 

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Can you wash pesticides off your food? A guide to eating fewer toxic chemicals

There are some simple steps you can take to minimize the amount of pesticides on your fruits and vegetables

To avoid pesticides, consider buying the fruits and vegetables that pose the least risk in a new analysis by Consumer Reports , and buying organic for those that pose the most . Below are answers to common questions about what other steps you can take.

Does washing remove pesticide residues?

Yes, some – but not all. Note that when the US Department of Agriculture tests a food for pesticides, it first washes and, in some cases, peels the food as a consumer would. So properly wash produce before you eat it raw or you cook it. (Cooking may eliminate some pesticides, but washing produce is still crucial.) That means running produce under cold water for 15 to 20 seconds. For heads of lettuce or other greens, turn them upside down after washing to drain. Use a soft brush to scrub the outside skin of items like apples, carrots and potatoes.

What about special washes or rinses?

There’s no need for anything other than water. There’s little evidence that soaps or special rinses wash away pesticide residues. And the USDA doesn’t use detergents or bleaches on any food it tests.

Does peeling or not eating skins help?

For items that aren’t always peeled but can be – like apples, potatoes and carrots – peeling likely removes some residues, but not all. That’s because some pesticides are systemic, meaning they’re absorbed into the plant. Peeling can have a downside, too, because the skins contribute healthy fiber and other nutrients, says Amy Keating, a registered dietitian at Consumer Reports, so if you like eating them, don’t get rid of them just to avoid pesticides.

Are canned or frozen versions better or worse?

It could go either way, according to our analysis. Canned tomatoes, for example, received a better score than fresh in our ratings, but frozen strawberries posed a higher risk than fresh. So we can’t reliably say that one form is safer than others, when it comes to pesticides. But our ratings can, in some cases, help identify which pose a lower risk.

Is ‘pesticide-free’ the same as organic?

That claim is increasingly seen on some packaged produce, but it doesn’t mean that something is organic – for that, you need to look for the USDA Organic label. And “pesticide-free” isn’t a regulated term, so you can’t be sure exactly what it’s telling you. On the other hand, you can have confidence that items with the USDA Organic label were grown according to national standards and with only minimum levels of pesticides, if any.

Is produce sold at farmers’ markets safer?

Maybe, but locally grown doesn’t necessarily mean organic. It can’t hurt to talk to the person selling the food about their farming practices, but a USDA Organic certification is the best guarantee.

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Couple claim 20 people at Chuck E. Cheese birthday party ended up sick from the food

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) - A Kentucky couple say one of them ended up in the hospital after a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. They claim 20 other partygoers got sick in an incident they blame on food poisoning.

Eric and Jennifer Carter were celebrating their granddaughter’s birthday April 6 with 30 other family members and friends at Chuck E. Cheese in Lexington’s Woodhill Shopping Center. However, they told WKYT the fun quickly turned sour.

“The only thing I ate was pepperoni pizza. I only ate a piece of it because I thought it tasted funny,” Eric Carter said.

Jennifer Carter says she had four slices of pizza, one slice of cheese bread and a bite of a chicken wing.

“We sent the chicken wings back because they were cold, and I didn’t want them to begin with,” Eric Carter said.

Forty-eight hours after returning to their Florence home, the Carters say at least 20 people from the party had vomiting, diarrhea and/or a fever.

Jennifer Carter says it was worse for her than her husband, and things went downhill rapidly.

“I had severe diarrhea to the point where I couldn’t hardly get out of bed,” she said.

She says that led to dehydration. When Eric Carter went to check on her, he says she had stopped breathing, her eyes were very still and she started to turn blue.

“I thought I just lost my wife in my arms,” he said.

Jennifer Carter ended up in the hospital. Once she recovered, the couple filed a complaint with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

WKYT obtained two years of the Chuck E. Cheese’s health inspections from the department. The scores ranged from a 97 down to an 80. The most recent inspection happened days after the April 6 birthday party. That score was a 93.

Chuck E. Cheese says the restaurant failed an inspection April 9 because the new manager didn’t have a local food handler permit. The health department shut down the food portion of the venue that same day. Violations from the report ranged from no food protection manager present to no hair restraint worn during food preparation.

The restaurant says it passed inspection the next day and, as of April 12, the kitchen was back open and the new manager properly licensed.

The venue didn’t comment specifically on the Carters’ food poisoning claims.

Local physician Dr. Jeff Foxx spoke about the claims. He says foodborne illness can progress to sepsis, but it’s generally rare and unlikely to happen to anyone who’s otherwise healthy.

“Food poisoning is not a common occurrence, and when it does occur, generally it’s self-limited, but there are some times it can progress,” Foxx said.

As for the Carters, they say that April 6 birthday party is one they’ll never forget – for all the wrong reasons.

“It’s sad that we had our grandchild’s birthday party, and we have to worry about everybody potentially getting sick,” Jennifer Carter said.

Chuck E. Cheese’s full statement to WKYT reads as follows:

“Thank you for inquiry. We are aware of the consumer complaint that was reported to us today, April 11, regarding an incident at our Lexington, KY location on Saturday, April 6. We are pleased to report that the health inspector visited this location on Wednesday, April 10th, because of the report and we passed the inspection with a 93.

Separately, on Tuesday, April 9th our location was inspected and failed because our new manager did not have a local health department food handler permit. This was caused by the sudden departure of the former manager of this location, who held the certificate/permit. Our new manager has already passed the exam, received the new permit and we are awaiting a new inspection to complete the paperwork on said certification.”

Copyright 2024 WKYT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Tabloid Publisher Testifies Trump Asked Him to ‘Help the Campaign’

The jury heard testimony about what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to bury negative news, including a porn star’s claim of a sexual encounter with Donald Trump. The longtime publisher of The National Enquirer will resume his testimony on Thursday.

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Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek

Five takeaways from the sixth day of Trump’s criminal trial.

Tuesday’s session of Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial began with a heated clash between Justice Juan M. Merchan and Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer over a gag order . It ended with an insider’s look into a tabloid newspaper practice known as “catch and kill.”

Prosecutors said that Mr. Trump had “willfully and blatantly” violated a gag order barring him from attacking jurors and witnesses, among others. They said he had done so in comments outside the courtroom and online and should be found in contempt of court.

Mr. Trump’s top lawyer said in response that Mr. Trump was simply defending himself from political attacks. Justice Merchan did not rule, but he scolded the lawyer, Todd Blanche, saying, “you’re losing all credibility with the court.”

A former ally of Mr. Trump, David Pecker, the ex-publisher of The National Enquirer, later testified to buying and burying unflattering stories about Mr. Trump during his 2016 run for president, an arrangement he called “highly, highly confidential.”

Mr. Trump, 77, faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, made to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his campaign. Ms. Daniels, who may testify, has said that she and Mr. Trump had a brief sexual encounter in 2006, something the former president denies.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the former president — and presumptive Republican nominee — could face probation or up to four years in prison.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s sixth day on trial:

Pecker describes “catch-and-kill.”

Taking the stand for a second day, Mr. Pecker outlined a decades-old friendship with Mr. Trump, a relationship that he said deepened in 2015.

It was then, Mr. Pecker said, that he, Mr. Trump and Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, met at Trump Tower in Manhattan to hatch a plan to write promotional stories about Mr. Trump and negative stories about his political opponents.

Mr. Pecker said he acted as the campaign’s “eyes and ears,” notifying Mr. Cohen about possible scandals, particularly regarding women in Mr. Trump’s life.

Mr. Pecker on Tuesday walked through one of the “catch-and-kill” deals. He said that The National Enquirer learned that a doorman who had worked at a Trump building was looking to sell a story about Mr. Trump fathering a child out of wedlock. The tabloid discovered that the story was apparently false, but paid $30,000 anyway, “because of the potential embarrassment” it could have caused Mr. Trump, Mr. Pecker said.

Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.

Pecker paints a portrait of a bygone era.

Mr. Pecker’s testimony depicted an anachronistic New York, with landlines, powerful supermarket tabloids and must-see network television, including “The Apprentice,” which made Mr. Trump nationally famous.

It also shed light on Mr. Pecker’s editorial tactics, including getting tips from Mr. Trump about who was getting kicked off “The Apprentice,” in line with Mr. Trump’s penchant for feeding dirt to tabloids.

Mr. Pecker said that he called Mr. Trump “Donald,” and that they had “a great relationship,” adding that he went so far as to start a magazine called Trump Style. When he proposed the magazine, Mr. Pecker said, Mr. Trump’s biggest question was, “Who’s going to pay for it?”

Trump’s short leash could get shorter.

Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, argued that Mr. Trump had repeatedly violated the gag order that the court imposed on him. One alleged violation included a nine-minute diatribe outside the courtroom on Monday during which he attacked Michael Cohen, his former fixer and a key witness against him.

“He did it right here,” Mr. Conroy said.

But Mr. Blanche said that the former president was “facing a barrage of political attacks” from several potential witnesses and needed to strike back.

“He’s running for president,” Mr. Blanche said. “He has to be able to respond to that.”

Justice Merchan has chastised Trump once so far, for muttering in front of a prospective juror. If he holds him in criminal contempt, it will mark a serious escalation. For their part, prosecutors said they were not seeking to jail Mr. Trump, but wanted him to be fined.

A frustrated Trump

Mr. Trump sat stoically while prosecutors argued that he violated the gag order. But he grew animated during the interplay between Mr. Blanche and Justice Merchan. On several occasions, the former president sharply turned to his other lawyers and whispered.

When Mr. Blanche finished his argument, Mr. Trump immediately beckoned him over before he snatched a piece of paper off the defense table.

Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social right after the hearing, accusing Justice Merchan of taking away his “right to free speech” and claiming that he was “not allowed to defend myself.”

Thursday will be a big day for Trump in two courts.

Court is not in session on Wednesday, but prosecutors will continue their direct examination of Mr. Pecker on Thursday.

While Mr. Trump is expected to be in court in Manhattan that day, he may be a little preoccupied: In Washington, some of his other lawyers will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court that Mr. Trump should receive presidential immunity from prosecution in a federal election interference case.

Mr. Trump had sought to take a day away from his New York case to watch those arguments, but Justice Merchan denied his request.

Matthew Haag and Michael Rothfeld

Here’s how a tabloid quashed a doorman’s Trump tip.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, revealed during Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday how a team of reporters chased down a potentially explosive news tip called into the publication in 2015 that evolved into a catch-and-kill deal.

Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at a Manhattan building managed by the Trump Organization, called the tabloid’s tip line late in 2015 and said he had overheard other employees claiming that Mr. Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman who previously worked for him.

While the claim appeared to be false, the allegation could have damaged Mr. Trump during the campaign if it ever became public, Mr. Pecker testified in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

“I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment it would have to the campaign and Mr. Trump,” Mr. Pecker said, adding that it was important to have it “removed from the market.”

The Enquirer initially reached a deal with Mr. Sajudin that would pay him $30,000 if the tip turned into a story. A contract with Mr. Sajudin was shown to the jury on Tuesday, featuring the words “Donald Trump’s illegitimate child.”

Mr. Pecker did not immediately alert Mr. Trump or his longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, about the tip, but instead dispatched a team of reporters to investigate the claim. They returned saying that it appeared totally false, in part because the child strongly resembled the man she knew as her father, a Trump Organization driver.

Mr. Cohen eventually heard about the allegation and called the tabloid’s editor, angry that its reporters would even consider the claim had merit. Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Cohen also called him to say that Mr. Trump had offered to take a DNA test and could not be the child’s father.

The original deal with Mr. Sajudin was nonetheless amended to pay him the $30,000 whether the story was published or not, and adding a confidentiality provision requiring him to pay the publisher $1 million if he disclosed the tip elsewhere.

According to Mr. Pecker, Mr. Cohen told him that “the boss would be very pleased.”

Mr. Sajudin was released from the confidentiality agreement in December 2016, a month after Mr. Trump won the election, which prosecutors say reveals the deal’s true objective.

Advertisement

Nate Schweber

A day after Trump issued a call for more supporters to gather outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, the number reached its nadir. The number of identifiable Trump fans across the street in Collect Pond Park on Tuesday sank to the mid-single digits, after hovering at about a dozen for a week.

Trump continues to receive favorable treatment from the New York City Police Department. For a week, a large N.Y.P.D. dump truck has parked in the intersection of Hogan Place and Centre Street, with a uniformed driver sitting inside. Minutes before Trump's arrival each morning, the dump truck has pulled a half-car length forward, blocking news photographers’ views of him entering the side door of the courthouse. And this afternoon, like those before it, the driver did the same maneuver for Trump’s 2:37 p.m. departure.

Jim Rutenberg

The National Enquirer’s help for Trump broke norms, even for a tabloid.

The National Enquirer was more than a friendly media outlet for Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. It was a powerful, national political weapon that was thrust into the service of a single candidate, in violation of campaign finance law.

The tabloid’s former publisher, David Pecker, testified nonchalantly on Tuesday about how the tabloid operated in tandem with the Trump campaign, “catching and killing” potentially damaging stories and running elaborate and false hit pieces on Mr. Trump’s opponents. But its practices were unusual even in the wild supermarket tabloid news game.

By the admission of The Enquirer’s own publisher — first made to federal prosecutors years ago during the prosecution of Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen — the tabloid was operating with the full intention of helping Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Under the First Amendment, newspapers are permitted to support candidates. But The Enquirer’s support went beyond journalism: The publication paid $150,000 for a story a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, was preparing to tell about an affair she said she had with the candidate. Then, it published nothing.

That sort of deal is not unusual in the tabloid news trade, even if it violates journalistic standards followed by mainstream American outlets like this one, which have rules against paying sources.

But before 2016, there had never been a known catch-and-kill deal to aid a presidential campaign. In that context, The Enquirer’s payment violated federal campaign laws prohibiting corporations from donating to presidential candidates — who are limited to receiving direct donations of $4,400 per person — and forbidding them to coordinate election-related spending with campaigns.

As The Enquirer’s parent company at the time, American Media, admitted in a “non-prosecution” deal with the federal government in 2018: “AMI knew that corporations such as AMI are subject to federal campaign finance laws, and that expenditures by corporations, made for purposes of influencing an election and in coordination with or at the request of a candidate or campaign, are unlawful.”

The deal helped secure Tuesday’s testimony.

(The Federal Election Commission later hit The Enquirer’s parent company with fines of $187,000; Mr. Trump’s campaign escaped sanction .)

The Enquirer was also providing a hidden value to Mr. Trump: By giving over its cover to his political needs, Mr. Pecker gave him the equivalent of free advertising space at most major supermarket checkout lines in the country, where the tabloid had long ago secured prime placement.

One expert said at the time that such exposure could be worth as much as $3 million a month.

Worth potentially even more: The Enquirer’s agreement to keep from the checkout line not only Ms. McDougal’s story but the cache of Trump dirt it had in its own files — “tabloid gold” that would never see the light of day.

Jonah Bromwich

We end the day without a final decision from the judge on whether Trump will be held in contempt and fined for violating his gag order. Justice Merchan could issue a written ruling at any point, or rule from the bench on Thursday or later. There is no deadline.

Michael Gold

Trump, speaking in the hallway outside the courtroom, says he thinks the gag order is unconstitutional. He’s holding a stack of printed articles that he says he’s not sure he’s allowed to share because of the gag order, which only pertains to a limited set of issues. While in the middle of talking to reporters, he says, “I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say anything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted.”

He again criticized the trial as an attempt to interfere with his presidential bid. He complained that President Biden was free to campaign while he was stuck in a courtroom, “sitting up as straight as I can all day long.”

David Pecker is done testifying for the day. The judge gives jurors customary warnings, as well as one we haven’t heard before, about reporting anyone who seeks to violate jury integrity — making it sound almost as if someone has approached a juror inappropriately. Then they leave the courtroom.

Karen McDougal, by the way, was selling a story of having had an affair with Trump. Pecker concluded the day’s testimony by saying that Michael Cohen was becoming increasingly agitated as The National Enquirer editor, Dylan Howard, traveled to hear her story. “It looked like he was getting a lot of pressure to get the answer, like, right away,” Pecker says of Cohen.

David Pecker tells the courtroom that he asked Dylan Howard, the former editor of The National Enquirer, to investigate Karen McDougal’s story and that he told Cohen he had done so. He seems to indicate his conversations with Cohen soon increased in frequency and the two men began to talk multiple times daily. Cohen said they should communicate over Signal, an encrypted app, which is often used for conversations that a person wants to keep private.

Maggie Haberman

The jury is quite alert for this portion of Pecker’s testimony.

Kate Christobek

Trump’s body language changed when Pecker started testifying about the catch-and-kill deal involving McDougal. He started moving his head, squinting and pursing his lips, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

Pecker says he advised Trump to purchase McDougal’s story directly. “I think you should buy it,” he recalls having said to Trump, who was then a candidate for president. He says Trump said he’d think about it and have Cohen call Pecker back.

Matthew Haag

Former tabloid publisher details how he helped Trump’s campaign.

David Pecker, a former publisher of The National Enquirer, on Tuesday testified about the mutually beneficial relationship between Donald J. Trump and the supermarket tabloid that started decades ago and buoyed Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. Pecker said that the pivotal moment was an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. “I received a call from Michael Cohen telling me that the boss wanted to see me,” Mr. Pecker said, adding that he did not know the nature of the meeting before he showed up.

Mr. Trump had announced his presidential campaign a few months before in the same place, and Mr. Pecker said he arrived to meet not just Mr. Trump but also Mr. Cohen, his fixer at the time.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen asked him how he could “help the campaign,” according to Mr. Pecker, underscoring prosecutors’ argument that the hush-money payments were made to help Mr. Trump get elected.

An outcome of that Trump Tower meeting were negative headlines attacking Mr. Trump’s rivals and positive stories that promoted him. Prosecutors said that negative coverage included stories about Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio while they were seeking the Republican Party’s nomination.

During the campaign, Mr. Pecker said he worked closely with Mr. Cohen, who would feed him information. Mr. Cohen would call him after Republican debates and ask for negative coverage to be directed at whichever candidate had been most successful onstage.

In turn, The Enquirer would “embellish” the stories, Mr. Pecker said, essentially confessing that it published “fake news” to help Mr. Trump.

Mr. Pecker also said that the tabloid arranged to suppress negative information, especially pertaining to “women selling stories” about Mr. Trump, who Mr. Pecker said was known as “the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women.”

We are fifteen minutes — at most — away from the end of the day. Steinglass, the prosecutor, appears to be putting a bow on the story of the doorman who sought to sell Trump’s story. But he moves on immediately to the second catch-and-kill deal, which involved the former Playboy model Karen McDougal. She, too, had a story about Trump to sell.

Prosecutors like to end the day with the most intriguing question-and-answer series they can. I’d expected Steinglass to finish with the doorman, and perhaps allow the jurors to leave early. But by moving onto this next deal, he could be setting up a nice cliffhanger to leave jurors with, that he'll pick back up when we return Thursday morning.

Steinglass, the prosecutor, is asking Pecker why he paid so much for this story. “I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment it would have to the campaign and Mr. Trump,” Pecker responds. This is catch-and-kill in a nutshell and Pecker just said several times in different ways that he was acting on Trump’s behalf.

Regardless of whether the allegation about Trump fathering the child was true or not, the jury is now being shown a contract the National Enquirer reached with Dino Sajudin, the doorman, in which the words “Donald Trump’s illegitimate child” feature prominently. Things like that can leave a mark.

Pecker says Cohen called him furiously denying that the child in question was Trump's, saying that he offered to take a DNA test and that because he was German-Irish and the woman was Hispanic, it was impossible for the child to be his.

To be clear, Pecker appeared to be saying that Cohen indicated that a child with a Hispanic mother couldn’t be Trump’s.

Trump has often talked about “good genes” and blood lines. While running for president, he has denigrated immigrants from Latin American countries and said undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

On the other hand, Pecker did not clarify whether “the woman” he was referring to was the mother of the child or the child herself, who by then was in her 20s.

Pecker is now being asked about Dino Sajudin, a doorman who worked at a Trump building and looked to sell a story — which was apparently false — about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock. This is the first of three catch-and-kill deals that Pecker is expected to describe and we will likely get a fair amount of detail on each of them.

This story clearly bothers Trump. Just like yesterday when it came up during opening statements, he frowned and shook his head.

Pecker says the love child story would have been a big story, and he believed it was important to have it “removed from the market.” Cohen told him “the boss would be very pleased.”

To catch you up, David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been testifying for nearly two hours, detailing a mutually beneficial relationship between Trump and his publication. Pecker said that at the direction of Trump and his fixer, Michael Cohen, The Enquirer published negative coverage about Trump’s political rivals and positive stories that promoted him. The National Enquirer benefited too, with increased newsstand sales. The tabloid also arranged for negative stories about Trump to be suppressed through “ catch-and-kill ” schemes.

The symbiotic relationship existed for years, Pecker said, stretching back to when Trump hosted the reality television show “The Apprentice.” But it picked up during the presidential campaign after Trump, Cohen and Pecker met at Trump Tower in August 2015.

Trump pulls down the lapels of his jacket sharply and walks out, again looking frustrated. To me, he’s looked far angrier yesterday and today than he did during all of last week, during jury selection.

Trump’s lawyers have objected all along to prosecutors couching Trump’s relationship with Pecker and Michael Cohen as a conspiracy — after all, Trump is not facing a conspiracy charge. But Joshua Steinglass, one of the prosecutors, just noted for the first time in court that one of the election statutes the case is based on does in fact have a conspiracy provision. That could prove important later when the jury is instructed on the laws they must consider in reaching a verdict.

We are taking a short break, though the lawyers and Trump are staying put. From our perspective, it seemed as if the jurors needed it. A few looked like they were flagging. We have no lunch break today — usually it’d be about a half hour away — and this is a lot of information to absorb. Jurors often feel a special responsibility to understand what they’re being told, given their role. It can be very tiring, regardless of the subject matter.

Pecker is now being asked about being introduced to Steve Bannon, Trump’s top campaign strategist, in October 2016. He recalls Trump saying, “I believe you and Steve would get along really well.” Bannon told Pecker that he went through some of the Enquirer articles and liked them, and had some other ideas. Pecker said he would give him old issues to study.

It’s worth recalling that this happened around the same time as the Wikileaks email dump, after a hack of Clinton’s top adviser John Podesta’s account, and the Trump team used that material frequently.

Prosecutors just showed several examples of the negative headlines about Trump's opponents, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.

Pecker is being asked about an infamous Enquirer story linking Ted Cruz’s father to the John F. Kennedy assassination. He says it originated with Dylan Howard, The Enquirer’s editor.

Pecker said that after the Republican debates, Cohen would call him and direct him to focus the negative coverage on whichever candidate had been most successful onstage.

It should be pointed out that Pecker’s testimony isn’t just damaging to Trump. He is, in effect, laying waste to his own professional career by going through headline after headline and suggesting he attacked Trump’s rivals to aid Trump.

Pecker is asked about the nature of Cohen’s relationship to the Trump campaign. Pecker says Cohen always said he didn’t work for the campaign, and that he was instead “Mr. Trump’s personal attorney.” But jurors just heard that Cohen was central to feeding the tabloid negative information about campaign opponents.

“Michael was physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on,” Pecker says. He adds that because Cohen wasn’t officially employed by the campaign, he may have heard things “informally” or “injected himself into it.”

Pecker finally says something mildly helpful to the defense. He says he doesn’t know who Cohen spoke to, and adds that Cohen may have essentially been freelancing, acting of his own volition as he tried to get more involved with the campaign.

Now, we are discussing negative headlines attacking three of Trump's Republican opponents in 2016, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, which prosecutors argue illustrate the outcome of the agreement reached during the Trump Tower meeting. Pecker says that Cohen would feed him negative information and that The National Enquirer would “embellish” and add onto it.

Trump jumped on the negative coverage of Ted Cruz, especially about his father, in 2016. The campaign promoted it like it had come about organically and Trump was simply responding to it.

Trump just leaned in toward the monitor in front of him and squinted to look closer at a collection of headlines from The National Enquirer that praised him. They included: “Donald Trump — Cruzin to victory! Ted endorses Donald” and “Obama’s Half Brother — Cheering on Donald at Debate.”

Prosecutors call Trump’s echo of a Fox News host’s remarks ‘troubling.’

As prosecutors argued Tuesday that former President Donald J. Trump had repeatedly broken a gag order, they called one episode “very troubling” — his sharing of a commentator’s quote disparaging prospective jurors as clandestine operators for the left.

Mr. Trump posted the remark by Jesse Watters, a Fox News commentator, on his social media site Truth Social last week, as jury selection was underway in his hush-money trial. Mr. Trump quoted Mr. Watters as saying, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

Mr. Trump’s post embellished the actual remarks made by the commentator, adding the phrase “in order to get on the Trump Jury” when Mr. Watters had not said that on air. A few hours later, however, Mr. Watters posted on X the exact statement as shared by Mr. Trump.

No juror or potential juror has been identified as a liberal activist.

In that Fox News segment, Mr. Watters also shared personal details about the jurors in his segment. The day after that post, the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, ordered reporters to withhold some information that could identify jurors.

“What happened here was exactly what this order was meant to prevent and the defendant doesn’t care,” a prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, said in court Tuesday.

A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, argued that Mr. Trump was simply sharing a quote, a common argument used by Mr. Trump to put distance between him and reposts of other people’s comments.

Judge Merchan did not appear to buy that argument. “It’s not passive,” Mr. Merchan said about how a post is published on Truth Social.

Mr. Conroy said the timing of the “liberal activists” post was important. The next morning, a juror came into court and asked to be excused, saying that friends and colleagues had been able to identify her as a member.

Mr. Watters hosts the nightly program “Jesse Watters Primetime” and is a co-host on “The Five,” a weekday afternoon chat show. He rose to prominence on Fox News for his ambush-style interviews on the street, which included a 2016 segment in which he mocked Asian people in New York City’s Chinatown that was widely seen as trafficking in stereotypes and veering into racism.

Pecker asked that the “catch-and-kill” arrangement be kept secret. Steinglass asks him to explain why. Pecker says he was helping the campaign, and didn’t want it to “leak” that his publication was aiding Trump. He wanted it “very confidential,” he says. Steinglass, satisfied, moves on.

A hearing turns heated as judge considers citing Trump for contempt.

The judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s trial in Manhattan held a fiery hearing on Tuesday about whether to find Mr. Trump in criminal contempt for repeatedly violating the provisions of a gag order.

While the judge, Juan M. Merchan, did not issue an immediate ruling, he engaged in a heated back-and-forth with one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, scolding him for his failure to offer any facts in his defense of the former president.

“You’ve presented nothing,” Justice Merchan told the lawyer, Todd Blanche, adding soon after: “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”

Justice Merchan’s rebuke came moments after prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office had complained that Mr. Trump willfully violated the gag order by making 10 public statements on social media and on his campaign website that attacked two likely witnesses and the jury.

The prosecutors pointed to Mr. Trump’s attacks on Michael Cohen, a lawyer who had helped Mr. Trump arrange hush payments to a porn star to stop her from speaking about a sexual encounter she said she had had with Mr. Trump. The prosecutors also told Judge Merchan that a post Mr. Trump had made going after the woman, Stormy Daniels, violated the gag order.

Prosecutors flagged another post for Justice Merchan, saying it was even more troubling. In it, Mr. Trump had quoted a Fox News commentator, Jesse Watters, denigrating potential jurors in the case as “undercover liberal activists.”

Justice Merchan imposed the order on Mr. Trump in late March, barring him from public statements about any witnesses, prosecutors, jurors or court staff. But within a week, after Mr. Trump had found a loophole in the order and repeatedly attacked the judge’s daughter, Justice Merchan expanded it to cover the relatives of court staff members and relatives of lawyers working on the case.

Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor, told Justice Merchan on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had broken the order “repeatedly and hasn’t stopped.” Mr. Conroy added that the former president had made statements violating it even “right here in the hallway” outside the courtroom.

“He knows what he’s not allowed to do,” Mr. Conroy said of Mr. Trump, “and he does it anyhow.”

Mr. Blanche rejected that argument, telling the judge that Mr. Trump had never willfully violated the order. Mr. Blanche instead tried to paint his client’s statements as legitimate responses to “a barrage of political attacks.”

“Mr. Cohen in particular, and also Ms. Daniels, have ramped up their political attacks and their attacks on him as candidate in the weeks leading up to the trial,” Mr. Blanche said. His argument to Justice Merchan was that Mr. Trump should be allowed to respond.

The judge was skeptical, all but pleading with Mr. Blanche at one point to make a more substantive legal argument.

“I hate to keep coming back to this, but you’re not offering me anything to support your argument,” he said.

Prosecutors have asked Justice Merchan to fine Mr. Trump $1,000 for each of his violations of the gag order. They have also asked the judge to warn Mr. Trump that if he continues to violate the order, he could face jail time.

Matthew Haag and Alan Feuer

New York’s court system is publishing daily transcripts of Trump’s trial.

If you want to follow Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in detail but can’t make it to the Lower Manhattan courthouse in person, you can still read every word of the proceedings.

The New York State Court system will publish a transcript of each day’s court action by the end of the following day on its website. The transcripts can be found here under People v Donald J. Trump (Criminal).

The trial is not televised nor is there live audio, so the transcripts provide the only way to read what is said in the courtroom, word for word.

The court system does not normally release daily transcripts for public consumption and in most cases, seeing transcripts for a court proceeding can be costly. But the court system’s chief administrative judge, Joseph A. Zayas , believed it was the right thing to do.

“This measure is in the interest of the public good and aligns with the court system’s commitment to judicial transparency and its ongoing efforts to enhance public access to, and understanding of, the courts and justice system,” said the judge, who made the decision to publish the transcripts.

In addition to the transcripts, the court website also includes various documents from the hush-money trial, including the 42 questions asked of prospective jurors during jury selection. The site also includes some documents from Mr. Trump’s civil fraud case as well as the previous criminal fraud case against Allen Weisselberg , the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization.

Jonah E. Bromwich and Ben Protess

Here’s the latest on the trial.

A key witness in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial pulled back the curtain Tuesday on what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election, describing how he used his tabloid to aid Mr. Trump’s campaign.

The witness, David Pecker, the longtime publisher of The National Enquirer, described a 2015 meeting with Mr. Trump and his fixer at the time, Michael D. Cohen. Prosecutors described the meeting, which took place at Mr. Trump’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, as the “Trump Tower conspiracy.”

Prosecutors say that meeting is where the trio hatched their efforts to conceal several sex scandals during the 2016 campaign. One of those efforts, a $130,000 hush-money payment Mr. Cohen made to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, is at the heart of the case.

Before court adjourned for the day, Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump had asked him what he and his magazines could do “to help the campaign,” a crucial statement that supports the prosecution’s argument that the men were not just protecting Mr. Trump’s personal reputation, but aiding his presidential bid.

“I would be your eyes and ears,” Mr. Pecker recalled telling them, as he explained the tabloid practice of “catch and kill,” in which an outlet bought the rights to a story, only to never publish it.

Mr. Pecker is expected to return to the stand when the trial resumes on Thursday. Court will not be in session on Wednesday.

During roughly three hours of testimony on Tuesday, the tabloid publisher described how Mr. Cohen communicated with him to protect Mr. Trump from negative stories, including a doorman’s apparently false claim that Mr. Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Cohen had told him “the boss would be very pleased” to have that story suppressed.

Mr. Pecker also described working with Mr. Cohen to generate negative coverage of Mr. Trump’s political rivals, saying that Mr. Cohen would feed him information and that The National Enquirer would sometimes “embellish” and add onto it.

Mr. Pecker also said that Mr. Cohen was “physically in every aspect of whatever the campaign was working on.” But, in what may have been a positive moment for the defense, he testified that Mr. Cohen, who always insisted that he was not a campaign employee but Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, may have “injected himself” into the campaign at times.

Mr. Trump, who repaid Mr. Cohen for the hush money, is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. Each charge reflects a check, invoice or ledger that prosecutors say disguised the true purpose of his reimbursement of Mr. Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness against him.

Mr. Pecker’s testimony on Tuesday came after a bruising hearing for Mr. Trump and his legal team, as prosecutors argued that Mr. Trump’s attacks on witnesses and jurors posed a “threat” to the trial. They urged the judge to hold him in contempt of court over what they said were 11 violations of the gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives.

A prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, rattled off various statements from Mr. Trump that the district attorney’s office believes crossed the line, including calling Mr. Cohen and Ms. Daniels “sleaze bags” and reposting an attack on the jury pool, which came the night before a juror who had already been seated asked to be excused.

“What happened here was exactly what this order was meant to prevent, and the defendant doesn’t care,” Mr. Conroy said.

Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, argued that Mr. Trump’s posts were political in nature, and said they did not violate the order because he was simply responding to “a barrage of political attacks,” including from Mr. Cohen.

Prosecutors have asked the judge, Juan M. Merchan, to fine Mr. Trump $1,000 for each violation. Justice Merchan, whose daughter has been among Mr. Trump’s targets, did not immediately rule.

But he appeared skeptical of the defense’s claims. At one point, after Mr. Blanche told the judge that Mr. Trump was trying to comply with the order, Justice Merchan replied, “You’re losing all credibility with the court.”

Here’s what to know on Day 6 of the trial:

The hearing over the gag order was heated at times, with Justice Merchan scolding Mr. Blanche for his failure to offer any facts in his defense of the former president. “You’ve presented nothing,” he said. Read more about the hearing.

One key issue in the hearing involved Mr. Trump echoing the remarks of a Fox News commentator , Jesse Watters, in a social media post. The full quote, as shared by Mr. Trump, said: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

Yesterday, in its opening statement, the prosecution accused Mr. Trump, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Pecker of plotting to bury negative stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Mr. Trump’s lawyer proclaimed that “President Trump is innocent.” Here’s a look back at the day in court.

Five takeaways from the fifth day of Trump’s criminal trial.

Monday marked another key moment in the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump: opening statements, during which the former president listened quietly to the prosecution’s allegations of crimes, and the defense’s counterargument that he was a simple man, wrongly accused.

The jury that will decide Mr. Trump’s case concentrated intently on the statements, which began the presentation of what will be weeks of testimony and other evidence, all in a tense courtroom in Lower Manhattan.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee once more, Mr. Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying 34 business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the days before the 2016 election. Ms. Daniels, who may testify, says that she and Mr. Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, a claim the former president denies.

Mr. Trump has also denied the 34 felony charges, calling them orchestrated by Democrats; if convicted, the former president could face probation or up to four years in prison.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s fifth day on trial:

The prosecution has a big story to tell.

The charges faced by Mr. Trump may sound bland — “falsifying business records” doesn’t really set the heart racing — but the prosecution made clear on Monday that it plans on painting a much broader picture.

Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor, laid out in his opening statement a tale that touched on tabloid journalism , tawdry affairs and covertly recorded phone calls . Jurors will likely be told about events inside fancy hotel rooms, Trump Tower and even the Oval Office. And the stakes? The presidency.

All that suggests that the case will keep jurors wide-awake during the six or so weeks it is projected to take. Indeed, when asked if they wanted paper and pens to take notes, more than half of the people in the jury box (12 jurors and six alternates) raised their hands.

The defense wants to destroy prosecution witnesses.

Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, used his opening statement to cast Mr. Trump’s actions leading to this case as run-of-the-mill business, and said that Mr. Trump is defending himself at trial, just as “any of us would do.”

He argued that the use of a nondisclosure agreement — the document Ms. Daniels signed after receiving the payment — was typical among the wealthy and the famous and “nothing illegal.” He continued that there was nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, adding: “It’s called democracy.”

Mr. Blanche also attacked Mr. Cohen, a former lawyer and fixer for Mr. Trump. He said Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes in 2018, was a “criminal” who “can’t be trusted.” He added that Ms. Daniels was “biased” against Mr. Trump and made a living off her story about the sexual encounter.

He called the heart of the prosecution case just “34 pieces of paper” that don’t involve Mr. Trump.

Trump was muted during the abbreviated day in court.

On Mr. Trump’s way into the courtroom on Monday, he addressed reporters for about three minutes and blasted a range of perceived enemies, including New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and the judge in a recent civil fraud case that resulted in a $454 million judgment against him.

But Mr. Trump’s behavior during opening statements reflected that he understood the gravity of the moment.

Mr. Trump made no outbursts during the prosecution’s opening statement, although he occasionally showed displeasure: He shook his head slightly at arguments that he orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the presidential election and then more strenuously when prosecutors said he was guilty of felonies.

During his own side’s opening statement, Mr. Trump sat largely motionless and expressionless watching his lawyer Mr. Blanche. Mr. Trump’s behavior was muted compared with his volatility during past Manhattan court appearances.

But at the conclusion of the trial day, Mr. Trump took his preferred spot in front of a television camera in the hallway, and spoke for more than nine minutes, attacking the prosecutor’s case — once again — as unfair.

David Pecker used to live on celebrity news. Now, he is the news.

Prosecutors’ first witness was David Pecker, the longtime publisher of The National Enquirer . He ambled to the stand and promptly gave a lesson in the ways of tabloid journalism, including the purchasing of articles — anything more than $10,000, he had to approve — and the significance of putting a famous face right out front.

“The only thing that was important is the cover of a magazine,” Mr. Pecker testified.

In about 30 minutes of testimony, Mr. Pecker also laid out trade secrets on sourcing, saying hotel workers and limo drivers could be a font of information on the rich and famous.

He seemed at ease: laughing at a prosecutor’s jokes, and sometimes directly addressing the jury just a few feet away.

We’re moving right along.

Over the past five trial days, the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan, has shown that he is eager to keep this trial on schedule. He seems serious about keeping his word to the jurors that the trial will last six weeks.

On Monday, truncated by a juror’s dental emergency and the Passover holiday, he decided to start with the first witness — Mr. Pecker — despite having only half an hour left on his schedule.

On Tuesday, the court will first consider a prosecution motion to hold Mr. Trump in contempt over recent comments that they say violated a gag order meant to keep him from attacking participants in the trial and their families.

Then, Mr. Pecker will continue on the stand, probably diving deeper into the “catch-and-kill” scheme used to buy up — and cover up — unflattering stories, a central element of the prosecution’s narrative.

Court will end early again, at 2 p.m., for further observance of Passover and then will have its weekly Wednesday break.

But there is little indication that as the weeks pass, Justice Merchan will let the pace slacken.

Michael Rothfeld

A look at how tabloids used ‘catch-and-kill’ to trade on the secrets of celebrities.

“Catch-and-kill” is a term coined by old-time tabloid editors for buying the exclusive rights to stories, or “catching” them, for the specific purpose of ensuring the information never becomes public. That’s the “killing” part.

Why would anyone want to spend money on a story that it never intends to publish? In the world of tabloid journalism, where ethical lines are blurry, deciding what to publish and why is often a calculus that covers favors doled out and chits called in.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who also oversaw other tabloids such as Star and lifestyle publications such as Men’s Fitness, was a master of the technique , according to people who have worked for him.

In 2003, Mr. Pecker’s company, American Media Inc., bought several muscle magazines founded by a mentor of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bodybuilding legend and movie star. When Mr. Schwarzenegger, who was often featured in those magazines, jumped into the recall election to replace California’s governor, Mr. Pecker ordered his staff to buy up negative stories about him in order to protect his investment, former employees said.

Staff members called it “the David Pecker Project.” American Media paid $20,000 to a former mistress of Mr. Schwarzenegger so that she would not speak about their affair — though news of it had previously been published. The company paid another $1,000 to her friend and $2,000 to a man who had a video of Mr. Schwarzenegger dancing lewdly in Rio de Janeiro 20 years earlier. Mr. Schwarzenegger was elected governor.

Mr. Pecker’s publications made deals with other celebrities as well, though not always for money. He traded away dirt about the golfer Tiger Woods in exchange for an exclusive interview in Men’s Fitness in 2007, according to people with knowledge of that episode.

And, according to the prosecutors in the Manhattan trial of Donald J. Trump, Mr. Pecker employed “catch-and-kill” tactics in the 2016 presidential election, paying a doorman and a Playboy model to suppress negative stories about Mr. Trump and boost the candidacy of his longtime associate.

Who is David Pecker, the trial’s first witness?

The first witness in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial is David Pecker, who was the publisher of The National Enquirer, and had traded favors with Mr. Trump since the 1990s.

Mr. Pecker, who was sometimes referred to as the “tabloid king,” had long used his publications to curry favor with Mr. Trump and other celebrities, in exchange for tips or for business reasons. Staff members called Mr. Trump, like other favored stars who were off limits, an “F.O.P.” — “Friend of Pecker.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Pecker, along with Mr. Trump’s former fixer Michael D. Cohen, hatched a plan in August 2015 to boost his upstart presidential campaign, prosecutors say. The former Trump allies are each expected to take a turn on the witness stand, giving testimony that could help make him the first president convicted of a felony.

Prosecutors for Alvin L. Bragg , the Manhattan district attorney, will try to show that the hush money payment to a porn star at the center of the trial was part of a larger effort to suppress negative news about Mr. Trump to sway the election. That scheme, they will contend, includes two other deals, both involving Mr. Pecker.

Mr. Trump had announced his presidential campaign in June 2015. The plan the men laid out two months later was simple, according to court documents, interviews with people involved in the events or familiar with them, private communications and other records.

Mr. Pecker would use The Enquirer to publish positive stories about Mr. Trump’s campaign and negative stories about his rivals. He would alert Mr. Trump, through Mr. Cohen, when The Enquirer learned of stories that might threaten Mr. Trump. The Enquirer could buy the rights to those stories in order to suppress them, a practice known in the tabloid world as “catch and kill.”

In late 2015, Mr. Pecker’s company paid $30,000 to suppress a claim by a former doorman at a Trump building who said he had heard Mr. Trump fathered a child out of wedlock — a rumor that was apparently untrue.

Then in August 2016, The Enquirer’s parent company paid $150,000 to a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, to keep her account of an affair with Mr. Trump quiet. Two months later, Mr. Pecker and The Enquirer’s editor helped Mr. Cohen negotiate a $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who also said she had sex with Mr. Trump. He has denied both women’s claims.

Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes in 2018.

The Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., made a deal that year to avoid federal prosecution, acknowledging that it had illegally tried to influence the election .