Life was looking up for Stephanie Ingberg - the 17-year-old American from St. Louis was vacationing in the Dominican Republic with her parents for Spring Break.
He had an upset stomach before the flight, but he didn't think much of it and even felt better when he arrived. Throughout the night the condition worsened, and he ended up in the hospital.
The next morning he did not recognize his mother, his kidneys had stopped working, he had a brain tumor and epilepsy.
His parents arranged for an emergency medical transfer back to the United States, where they confirmed that he had a serious bacterial infection: E. coli. His condition worsened overnight, he fell into a coma and a priest was called to give him the last rites.
Stephanie is one of the main contributors to the Netflix documentary Toxic: The Dirty Truth About Your Food, which looks at how the hygiene failures of our food chain can have devastating consequences for consumers.
As the priest began to pray, Stephanie's eyes were opened. He would have survived, but he would have faced lifelong consequences from his brush with E. coli.
"I have to take medicine every day to try to tighten the filters in my kidneys," he says in the documentary. "I'm probably going to have to have a kidney transplant. I'm going to have to be on dialysis for the rest of my life. You don't want to hear that.
"I ate a salad, and now I have long-term health effects from it."
Stephanie is one of the 600 million people who the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates get sick every year from eating contaminated food. Fortunately, he was not one of the 420,000 to die.
Watching what you eat can save your life, so here's what Bill Marler recommends you avoid to stay healthy.
Unboiled milk and packaged juices
Marler's experience in litigation has led him to classify raw or unpasteurized milk products or unpasteurized juices as dangerous.
The risk is the same E. coli bacteria that made Stephanie so sick.
"Any perceived health benefits from raw milk are not worth the risk. People have forgotten about the diseases that existed in the 19th Century," says Bill Marler, a lawyer and food safety expert.
Fresh sprouted seed foods
Marler does not eat raw seed vegetables such as alfalfa, green peas, or green beans.
These foods have been linked to the world's largest foodborne outbreaks. In 2011, an outbreak linked to fenugreek seeds in Germany meant up to 900 people developed kidney problems and there were more than 50 deaths.
"Those seeds are contaminated when they're grown outside. When you bring them inside and put them in a nice water bath to germinate them, it's a good breeding ground for bacteria," says Marler.
"I don't know anyone in the food safety industry who eats that raw."
Undercooked meat
With ground meat, any bacteria on the surface of the meat is mixed in. That is why it is important to cook hamburgers well.
And it won't take a lot of bacteria to make you very sick.
"About 50 E. coli bacteria are enough to kill you; 100,000 fit on the head of a pin. It's not something you can see, taste or smell. Cooking hamburgers properly is the only safe way," Marler says.
He recommends that you insist your burger is cooked to an internal temperature of 155F (69C) to eliminate any pathogens.
When it comes to raw meat, there is usually less risk as the bacteria on the outside are killed during the cooking process.
Uncooked fruits and vegetables
"When you eat a burger, the most dangerous part of it is not the burger. It's the onions, the cabbage and the tomatoes," says Mansour Samadpour, a food safety and poisoning consultant.
In 2006 there was a large outbreak of E. coli linked to spinach - more than 200 people became ill and up to five people were killed in the United States. Marler represented many of those involved.
The bacterial contamination was eventually linked to a spinach field in California that had been disturbed by animals, and the feces had contaminated the spinach with E. coli.
When it was cut and taken to the facility where they washed it three times, the bacteria was spread among the product and shipped around the country, injuring many.
"Is the convenience of someone washing your lettuce worth the risk of more people handling it? If more people handle it and it gets contaminated, it spreads faster," says Marler.
Raw and undercooked eggs
The danger in eggs comes from salmonella infection, a common bacteria that can cause diarrhea, fever, vomiting, and stomach upset. The very young and very old can become very ill, or even die.
There have been many bad incidents involving eggs in recent history: in 1988 a salmonella scare led the British government to order the slaughter of more than two million chickens. In 2010, a similar threat led to the recall of 500 million eggs in the United States.
Marler says eggs are safer today than they were in the past, but he urges caution and believes salmonella still poses an unacceptable risk to consumers of raw or undercooked eggs.
"About 1 in 10,000 eggs has salmonella in the shell. A hen can develop salmonella in the ovary - it gets into the egg and you can't do anything about it apart from cooking it."
Fresh oysters and other fresh shellfish
The danger is also from oysters and other raw shellfish because they are filters.
That means if there is a bacterial or viral infection in the water, it will easily enter the food chain. And Marler thinks the problem is exacerbated by global warming.
"With ocean warming comes an increase in oyster contamination: hepatitis, norovirus, etc. "I'm from Seattle and some of the best oysters in the world come from the Pacific Northwest, but there are ongoing issues. water and temperature. It's a new risk factor that you have to think about when you order those fresh oysters," he says.
Breads with fruits and vegetables 'Sandwich'
"You should check the date on the sandwich carefully, and if possible eat food that you have prepared yourself or that has been prepared in front of you," Marler advises.
He warns that the age of the sandwich is the main risk factor, which can lead to exposure to listeria montocytogenes - a very dangerous bug.
He says it is a major killer in the United States and around the world and causes everyone who eats it to end up in the hospital.
"Listeria grows best at refrigerator temperatures, so if someone makes you a sandwich and you eat it right away, the risk of listeria is minimal. If they make it and keep it in the refrigerator for a week before eating it, it is." it will give the listeria bug a chance to grow to a point where it will make you sick," he says.
But sushi is usually not a problem
But one type of food that people often question is sushi - but it's not a dangerous food for Marler, although he agrees that you should be careful when shopping.
"I will often go to a good sushi restaurant rather than places where they sell meat. The risk of contamination from fish is not that great," he says.
"I don't buy sushi from a grocery store or a gas station. A good sushi restaurant is safe because the fish has less risk when it comes to bacterial infections.
Post A Comment:
0 comments: