Warning on food poisoning

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 25

Warning on food poisoning

Bad food handling was at the bottom of nearly every food poisoning case, but people seemed to take little notice of repeated warnings, said the Christchurch medical officer of health, Dr M. A. Brieseman. Each summer health inspectors have to deal with a surge of food-poisoning cases. More than 53 cases have been reported in Christchurch during the last four months and last year a total of 221 cases were notified.

The Health Department did not usually hear about a case unless it involved commercial premises or an institutional outbreak such as the one last month involving 41 people. “If it is something ? mum made it gets blamed on something you ate and does not get reported," said Dr Brieseman. One typical example was the doctor who notified him of a suspected food-poision- ' ing case. Inspectors discovered that the patient had been to a party a few days before where food was brought from several dif- , ferent homes. More than half the party guests were also ill.

Another case was the private caterer working from home who kept some food at room temperature. That time a third of the wedding guests were affected. "What you could get away with in winter you could not get away with in summer,” he said. Chicken, mince, cold meat (and dairy products were the usual suspect foods. But 'simple precautions, such as keeping food dry,' refri- ; gerated, not leaving it at room temperature or heating ‘•■before serving were usually enough to kill any organisms ■ which could otherwise cause a couple of days of nausea, ■.vomiting, diarrhoea and ” abdominal pain.