Care with food needed

Press, 2 December 1982, Page 10

Care with food needed

Warm weather last week encouraged a lot of people to eat outside, and consequently there was a dramatic rise in the number of Christchurch people who picked up bacterial infections from food. Ten cases of Campylobacter, two cases of salmonella, and one case of food poisoning were reported to the Health Department last week. Dr W. A. Malpress, the Medical Officer of Health, said that those cases were the tip of the iceberg, as only a. tiny percentage of such cases was reported. Although each case was different, all had been caused by persons touching animals before handling food or by food being left out of a refrigerator on warm days.

Bacterial diseases were common in the summer, when people tended to live and eat more outside, and prepared food in advance for picnics, said Dr Malpress. Food left lying about in temperatures of more than 4deg. C. would grow organisms, especially if it was high-protein food, and had little or no preservatives, he said. “If you pack a picnic and leave it for a long time in a warm car boot, those organisms will be growing and multiplying,” he said. People should opt for foods without a high protein content, and should keep them in as cool a place as possible if they were going on a picnic, he said. “It is also a good idea to

prepare the food as close to the time you leave as possible, and to keep the food away from possible sources of infection while preparing it.” said Dr Malpress.

Persons who had touched animals and had then prepared or eaten food were a major source of bacterial infections, he said. The case of food poisoning, which was thought to have arisen from a restaurant, was probably caused by cream which had been left out of the refrigerator in the restaurant. “We are not absolutely sure that that was the cause, but it shows how careful you have to be with milk and milk products,” he said.