When we prepare for serve safe certification classes, we monitor food product recalls and FDA warnings concerning food-borne illness outbreaks. We have come to notice that a high-number of recent involve the bacterium listeria. With listeria making an impact on food safety and being prevalent in the news, we feel that it is important to understand what this bacterium is, how it spreads, and how to prevent it from sickening customers who consume your food products.
Serve Safe Certification Guide to Listeria
Listeria is a unique case when it comes to food-borne illness suspects because unlike many other bacteria it grows and multiplies at much colder temperatures than other contaminates. This means that any product contaminated with listeria …show more content…
Make sure that all raw produce is rinsed thoroughly, all prepared foods are cooked to the proper temperatures, and that you always clean and sanitize prep surfaces after preparing raw foods. Some of the most common foods that are responsible for listeria outbreaks include:
• Raw dairy and soft cheeses
• Raw sprouts
• Hot-dogs
• Smoked or cold-cured seafood
While these are the most common sources of listeria, we have noticed an increase in recalls and outbreaks that are traced back to frozen vegetables and fruits. We urge you to monitor FDA recalls. This can easily be done by viewing the FDA widget on the right hand side of our blog page.
While we cringe at discussing the effect of listeria poisoning, it is important to understand the symptoms in order to identify the cause of a food-borne illness. Listeria poisoning incubates for anywhere between a few days to a few months, so symptoms can arise long after tainted food has been consumes. Symptoms can include:
• Fever
• Soreness in the neck
• Disorientation
• Reduced strength
• Vomiting
A quick read of listeria poisoning symptoms read very closely to a list of flu symptoms with a few exceptions. Listeria attacks the nervous system as well as the digestive system, so when you hear of the symptoms, there is a chance that listeria is the
Serve Safe Certification Guide to Listeria
Listeria is a unique case when it comes to food-borne illness suspects because unlike many other bacteria it grows and multiplies at much colder temperatures than other contaminates. This means that any product contaminated with listeria …show more content…
Make sure that all raw produce is rinsed thoroughly, all prepared foods are cooked to the proper temperatures, and that you always clean and sanitize prep surfaces after preparing raw foods. Some of the most common foods that are responsible for listeria outbreaks include:
• Raw dairy and soft cheeses
• Raw sprouts
• Hot-dogs
• Smoked or cold-cured seafood
While these are the most common sources of listeria, we have noticed an increase in recalls and outbreaks that are traced back to frozen vegetables and fruits. We urge you to monitor FDA recalls. This can easily be done by viewing the FDA widget on the right hand side of our blog page.
While we cringe at discussing the effect of listeria poisoning, it is important to understand the symptoms in order to identify the cause of a food-borne illness. Listeria poisoning incubates for anywhere between a few days to a few months, so symptoms can arise long after tainted food has been consumes. Symptoms can include:
• Fever
• Soreness in the neck
• Disorientation
• Reduced strength
• Vomiting
A quick read of listeria poisoning symptoms read very closely to a list of flu symptoms with a few exceptions. Listeria attacks the nervous system as well as the digestive system, so when you hear of the symptoms, there is a chance that listeria is the