Food poisoning | causes | Symptoms

Food should be edible, Non toxic , should be digested by our body and should contain at least 1 Nutrient. Nutrients are the chemical substances present in the food .

Food poisoning is  an illness as a result of eating or drinking food that has been contaminated.Food can be contaminated during production, processing, storage and cooking.

The micro- organisms responsible for illness are commonly called germs and food may also be contaminated by chemicals or by natural toxin present in food .

SYMPTOMS :- 

Food poisoning usually occured after 1-36 hour of eating contaminated food.

The common symptoms of food poisoning are :-

Nausea, vomiting, Diarrhoea , stomach pain , weakness , Muscle pains , fever , loss of appetite , abdominal pain and dehydration. 

CAUSES OF FOOD POISONING :- 

1. Bacteria and germs :- 

They are microscope organisms and found everywhere.  They enters the food from human, animals , or other source . Sometimes they also produce toxins and they are the number one cause of food poisoning. E.g salmonella , campylobacter clostridium, staphylococcus, vibrio e.t.c

2. Natural :- 

Few plants and seafood  are natural source of toxin i.e toxin is present on them naturally. E.g amanita species of mushroom, blow fish , poisonous crab .

3. Chemicals :-

Chemicals are used for cleaning purposes . Some chemicals found in water are also cause of food poisoning. Arsenic is used to promote growth of fruit ,if not washed properly it can also cause food poisoning. Lead poisoning can also occour if water is in contact with lead pipe.

4 Metal :-

Acidic food should not be stored on copper container as it will take out harmful amount of copper and may cause reaction with food. also chemicals like Mercury should be handled with care 

5. Virus :- 

Rota virus , Noro virus are most common cause of food poisoning.