Portmore Community College

Asc. Hospitality & Tourism Management

Sanitation
Year 1 2020

Foodborne Illness

What is foodbourne illness?

Classification of foodborne illness

Foodborne illness is generally classified in three (3) ways:

1. Infection
This occurs when a living disease causing microorganism is eaten along with the food. After the
food is ingested, the organism burrows into the lining of the digestive tract and begins to
multiply.

2. Intoxication
This occurs when living organisms multiply in or on food and produces a toxin (chemical waste).
This food containing the toxin when eaten, cause illness referred to as food poisoning.

3. Toxin Mediated Infection

A living organism is consumed with the food, and once inside the body it produces a toxin that
causes illness.

Onset time
The # of hrs between the time a person consumes the contaminated food and when they start show
symptoms of the disease. This time varies depending on age, health status, body wght, and the amount
of contaminants ingested with the food.

Highly susceptible populations

Under the right circumstances anyone can become ill from eating contaminated foods. However, there
are certain persons in our population who are more at risk than others. They are:
Infants, elderly, pregnant women and persons with weak or suppressed immune systems.

Foodborne Hazards
This refers to any biological, chemical or physical hazard that may cause illness or injury when consumed
with food.
There are three (3) types of hazard:

Biological

Chemical

Physical

Bacteria
Bacteria accounts for most foodborne illness than any other hazard.

All bacteria exists in a vegetative state, i.e. they will all grow, reproduce and produce waste.

Some bacteria have the ability to form spores. Spores aid bacteria to survive adverse environmental
conditions.
Spores are not able to grow or reproduce. However when the conditions are right, the bacterial spore
will return to it’s vegetative state. Bacterial spores can survive for many months, and this makes it much
harder to destroy them in the spore form.

Spoilage and disease-causing bacteria

Bacteria can be classified as either spoilage or pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms.

Spoilage bacteria

Pathogenic bacteria

Bacterial Growth
How bacteria reproduces is when a bacterium divides to form two (2) new cells, and this process
(growth) is called binary fission.

Bacteria needs six (6) conditions in order to multiply (grow). This is denoted by the acronym F-A-T-T-O-
M.

The growth of bacteria follows a regular pattern that consist of four phases. They are:
Lag Phase
Log Phase
Stationary Phase
Death or Decline Phase

Potentially Hazardous Foods (PHF)

Foods that posses the ability to support the rapid and progressive growth of infectious and toxin-
producing microorganisms are referred to as PHF. They are usually high in protein or carbohydrates, a
ph above 4.6 and a water activity above 0.85.
Eg. Red meats, poultry, raw shell eggs, fish and shellfish, dairy products, rice, potatoes, refried beans,
and fruits.