Food Safety Illness

Jeremiah went grocery shopping on a hot summer day. He bought food for an upcoming family BBQ; ground beef for hamburgers, a couple of steaks, and the ingredients for making potato salad.

When he left the store, he put his groceries in the trunk and stopped by the sports outlet store to pick up a Frisbee and croquet set. It took about 10 minutes at the sports store, and then Jeremiah headed home to prepare the food. He was concerned that it had been too hot in the car, but everything was still cold when he got home.

Jeremiah took the groceries home and put everything in the refrigerator. The meat fit well on the top shelf, right above the potato salad ingredients.

Later on, he got the groceries out to prep everything for the BBQ. He cooked the potatoes and used a sharp knife to trim some excess fat off of the raw steaks. Then he cut up the rest of the vegetables for the potato salad with the sharp knife on a cutting board.

Jeremiah formed the hamburger patties, seasoned the steaks, and finished making the potato salad. With only about 45 minutes to go before leaving for the BBQ, Jeremiah left everything sitting out on the counter while he showered and got ready.

When he arrived at the BBQ, he set the potato salad on the picnic table and went to grill the steaks and burgers. He cooked both to about medium doneness, meaning both were pink in the middle.

Jeremiah enjoyed one of the steaks he prepared and gave one to his cousin. The other family members enjoyed the burgers and potato salad; in fact, Jeremiah didn’t have a chance to try the salad. A couple of days after the BBQ, Jeremiah learned that everyone at the BBQ, with exception of himself and his cousin, experienced a bout of flu-like symptoms the following day.

Write 50- to 150-word responses to each of the following questions. Be clear and concise, use complete sentences, and explain your answers using specific examples.

1. Based on Scenario 1, what are the possible sources of food-borne illness? The possible sources of food-borne illness could be cross-contamination from Jeremiah cutting off the fat from the steaks and cutting up the vegetables for the potato salad. If the same knife was used or if the same surface was even used to prepare both the meat and vegetables it could have contaminated the vegetables or the ground beef.

2. Although Jeremiah did not get sick, there were several areas throughout Jeremiah’s day that could have led him to a serious case of food-borne illness. Point out these areas and briefly explain why they are of concern and what Jeremiah could have done differently. One time that a food-borne illness could have been obtained when Jeremiah put the groceries in the trunk of his car, typically the trunk of a car is the hottest part of a vehicle, so the groceries could have gone below the appropriate temperature to store it at.

If Jeremiah would have been in the store more than twenty minutes, all depends on the temperature outside; it could have spoiled the meat. Secondly, if Jeremiah bought mayo or any type of dressing for the potato salad it could have spoiled and therefore made the guest sick. Also Jeremiah never got to eat any of the potato salad so if it was cross contaminated than he would have not gotten sick.

3. Why is it safe for steak to be pink in the middle, but potentially dangerous for a hamburger not to be cooked all the way through? It is safe for steak to be pink in the middle compared to the hamburger due to the hamburger being processed through a machine and being handled human beings so therefore the meat can be contaminated more easily. With cooking the hamburger to being well done with no pink than it can kill some bacteria. For example some companies do not cleanse or clean their machines to cut down on the bacteria and any contamination that might have occurred.

Scenario 2:

After enjoying a delicious dinner of lasagna, Martha cleaned up the kitchen and left the covered tray of leftover lasagna on the counter to cool. Since the lasagna was so dense and thick, it took about 4 hours for it to feel cool enough to go into the fridge for the night. The next day, Martha served leftover lasagna for lunch. She heated the lasagna thoroughly and it was finished.

Within about 2–3 hours, everyone who ate the lasagna developed stomach cramps, fever, and nausea; most eventually started vomiting. The illness was pretty awful, but thankfully relatively short-lived.

Write 50- to 150-word responses to each of the following questions. Be clear and concise, use complete sentences, and explain your answers using specific examples.

1. How could this illness have been prevented? The illness could have been prevented by having the lasagna uncovered while it was cooling so that condensation would have not built up on the cover. Then the water went into the lasagna, which was bacteria, and made the employees sick that ate it. The other thing that could have been done is had the lasagna put into the oven until it was thoroughly cooled.

2. Based on the incubation period and symptoms of the illness, what is the most likely microorganism responsible for this illness? E-coli would be the most reasonable reason for the illness. Because Martha did not reheat the lasagna properly for the second time around the bacteria was never killed off. If she would have reheated the lasagna in the oven at the proper temperature the bacteria would have been killed off.

3. Describe the temperature danger zone. It would have to cook at a certain temperature to cook all the bacteria and the microorganisms out of the lasagna. Harmful bacteria such as E-coli contaminate food without physical signs, smells or tastes. Temperatures hotter than 165°F not just the outside but making sure the inside is also cooked correctly.

4. How could Martha have sped up the cooling process of the lasagna? If she would have left the lasagna uncovered on the counter it would have cooled down a lot faster. As soon as it would have became room temperature she could have covered it and put it in the refrigerator.

5. If the leftover lasagna was thoroughly reheated, (which it was), how did it still lead to food-borne illness? When Martha put the lasagna into the microwave it wasn’t hot enough for the bacteria to be cooked out of the lasagna. If she would have reheated in the lasagna would in the stove instead all the bacteria would have been cooked out and no one would have gotten sick.

Scenario 3:

Sally was making marinated shish-kabobs to grill for dinner. She made a beautiful marinade and then cut up the raw chicken on a cutting board. She put the chunks of chicken in the marinade and let it sit on the counter for about 3 hours until it was time to cook.

While the chicken was marinating, Sally prepared the vegetables. She cut them using the same cutting board and knife; she rinsed both off with warm water between cutting the chicken and the vegetables.

Once the chicken had marinated, Sally put the chicken and vegetables on skewers to be grilled. She also started rice in the rice cooker to go with the shish-kabobs.

As the shish-kabobs were grilling, Sally put the marinade in a serving dish
for extra sauce to put over the rice.

Several hours later, Sally and her family members all developed nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, and abdominal pain.

Write 50- to 150-word responses to each of the following questions. Be clear and concise, use complete sentences, and explain your answers using specific examples.

1. What could be the cause of Sally and her family members’ illness? Would be improper food preparation by leaving chicken out on the counter more than allotted time as it developed bacteria and salmonella. She also prepared vegetables on the cutting board without proper cleaning with hot water and soap. Also reusing the marinated sauce on the rice, she should have been cooked so all the bacteria could have been cook out.

2. How could this illness have been prevented? This illness could have been prevented with proper cleaning of all preparation and utensils materials. With proper washing with soap and hot water it would not cross contaminate the chicken, vegetables and the marinate. The illness could have also been prevented if she would have properly stored the chicken in the kitchen to make sure that bacteria would have not been growing.