How fast do bacteria move?

 

Bacterial contamination is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness and can occur at any stage of food production.

How fast do bacteria move? How often does cell bacterial contamination break out? What is the incidence of bacterial contamination transfusion reactions? How fast do people fart? What is bacterial contamination?

Each year, foodborne illness affects approximately 600 million people worldwide, including 48 million Americans (1, 2).

While there are many causes of foodborne illness, one of the main causes is bacterial contamination. In most cases, bacterial contamination is preventable and is often caused by poor food safety practices, such as eating undercooked poultry.

If you put food at a temperature of (4–60°C), the number of bacteria on the food doubles in just 20 minutes and continues to multiply exponentially (3).

Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to prevent this from happening and thus protect yourself and others.

This article shares what you need to know about bacterial contamination, how quickly it spreads, and how to prevent it.

What is bacterial contamination?

Bacterial contamination is the leading cause of foodborne illness, i.e. a person getting sick from eating food. Food poisoning is another term for foodborne illness (4, 5).

Bacterial contamination occurs when bacteria multiply on food and cause it to deteriorate. Eating that kind of food can make you sick, whether it comes directly from bacteria or the toxins they release.

There are three main types of foodborne illness caused by bacterial contamination (6, 7):

• Food poisoning or intoxication. Bacteria multiply on food and release toxins, and if you eat them, you get sick. Bacterial strains that cause this include Clostridium aerophones, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium botulinum.
• Food infections. Bacteria grow on food and continue to grow in your gut after you eat it. The bacteria that cause this include Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Shigella.
• Toxin-mediated infection. Bacteria in food multiply and release toxins in your gut after you eat them. Bacteria that can cause this include E. coli (E.coli), Campylobacter jejuni, and Vibrio.

The main bacteria that cause foodborne illness in the United States include:

• salmonella
• Clostridium capsulata
• Campylobacter jejuni
• Staphylococcus aureus

Common side effects of foodborne illness caused by bacterial contamination include:

• Stomach upset
• Loss of appetite
• headache
• disgusting
• diarrhea

These symptoms usually appear within 24 hours of eating contaminated food, but sometimes they occur days to weeks later, depending on the type of bacteria (7).

Norovirus is a virus commonly referred to as "gastrointestinal flu" or "stomach disease," and it can also cause foodborne illness (8).

Summary: Bacterial contamination occurs when bacteria multiply on food, causing food to deteriorate. If you consume this contaminated food, it can cause food poisoning or foodborne illness.

Foods that are easily contaminated by bacteria

While all foods are at risk of contamination by bacteria, some foods are more susceptible to bacterial contamination.

Foods high in water, starch, or protein provide the optimal breeding ground for bacteria and therefore a higher risk of foodborne illness.

Here are some common high-risk foods (9, 10):

• Fresh and prepared salads such as pasta salad, potato salad, coleslaw, and fruit salad
• Rice, pasta, and potato dishes
• Casserole dish and lasagna
• Unwashed fruits and vegetables
• Leafy greens
• Melons, cantaloupes, and other fruits with thick, firm flesh
• Meat, poultry, fish, eggs
• Deli meat
• Dairy products, especially unpasteurized milk and cheese
• Soft cheese
• Unpasteurized cider
• soup
• Gravies, sauces and marinades
• sprouts
• Leftovers

By cooking and storing food at the right temperature and doing safe food handling, you can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination in these and other foods.

Summary: Foods high in moisture, starch, or protein provide the best breeding ground for bacteria. Understanding how to handle these foods safely can reduce your risk of foodborne illness.

How fast it spreads

When bacteria are in a temperature range called a danger zone, they can replicate at an exponential rate, i.e. (4–60°C) (3).

Your kitchen counter is a good example.

If you leave food on the kitchen counter or elsewhere in the danger zone, the number of bacteria can double in as little as 20 minutes and continue to double at that rate for hours. This makes food extremely susceptible to bacterial overgrowth, which can lead to disease (3, 11).

On the other hand, when you store food at temperatures below (4 °C), bacteria cannot replicate quickly. At temperatures (-18°C), bacteria go into a dormant state—sometimes referred to as "dormancy"—and do not replicate (3, 11).

When food is heated to temperatures above (60°C), the bacteria will not survive and begin to die. This is why proper cooking and reheating of food to the right temperature is critical to reducing the risk of foodborne illness (3, 11).

To find out the safe minimum cooking temperature for a variety of susceptible foods, visit FoodSafety.gov.

To prevent bacteria from growing rapidly, it is critical to keep certain foods out of the temperature range of the danger zone as much as possible. If contaminated food is left in a hazardous area for more than 2 hours, it is best to throw them away.

Please note that putting contaminated food back in the fridge or freezer will not kill germs, and the food will still not be safe to eat.

However, some foods can be safely stored over the counter or in a food pantry for some time. To find food safety recommendations for a specific food, check out the FoodKeeper app from FoodSafety.gov.

Summary: When you leave susceptible food in the hazardous zone temperature range (4–60°C), the number of bacteria on them doubles in as little as 20 minutes. After 2 hours, the food may not be safe to eat.

How food is contaminated

Between food production and consumption, there are many opportunities for bacterial contamination. These include (12, 13):

• Food production, for example in agriculture, harvesting, slaughtering, food processing, and manufacturing processes
• Food transportation
• Food storage, including during refrigeration or when food is in a pantry or pantry
• Food delivery, such as at a grocery store or farmers' market
• Food preparation and service, including at restaurants, food service establishments, or at home

Usually, food is contaminated with bacteria due to cross-contamination, which is the transfer of bacteria or other microorganisms from one substance to another. This can occur at any stage of food production (12, 13, 14).

Bacteria can be transferred to food in several ways, such as (12, 13, 14):

• From contaminated equipment such as cutlery, cutting boards, countertops, or machines
• From people, for example by processing or sneezing
• From other foods, such as raw chicken in contact with raw vegetables

That said, bacterial contamination can also occur without cross-contamination. Bacteria occur naturally in raw meat, poultry, and fish. This means that you must cook them to the proper temperature to destroy potentially harmful bacteria (12, 13).

Finally, bacteria may grow on foods that have been placed in hazardous areas for too long, such as foods that remain on the counter or are not stored at a sufficiently low temperature, such as foods in non-insulated lunch bags (3).

Summary: Bacterial contamination can occur at any stage of food production. The most common causes are cross-contamination, excessive food stay in hazardous areas, or other unsafe food handling methods.

How to prevent it

Since bacterial contamination can occur at any stage of food production, it can be difficult to ensure that everyone in the farm-to-table chain adopts a safe approach to food handling.

That said, there are a few things you can do to reduce your risk of foodborne illness due to bacterial contamination, including the following tips (15, 16).

Tips for buying food safely

• Read the shelf life carefully and avoid buying foods that are close to the shelf life unless you intend to consume them immediately.
• Place raw meat and poultry in shopping bags separate from other groceries.
• Before and after grocery shopping, clean and disinfect your reusable shopping bags.
• Avoid eating unwashed products.
• Catch perishable food at the end while shopping at the grocery store to reduce the amount of time they spend in dangerous areas. These foods may include eggs and cattle
• Milk, meat, poultry, and pasta salads.
• Make grocery shopping your last thing to prevent groceries from staying in the car for too long.
• Put away your food as soon as you get home.
• Discard any cans or packages with dents or broken seals.
• Avoid buying fresh produce with bruises, as these bruises are the entry point for bacteria.

Tips for safely storing food

• Make sure your refrigerator is set to (4°C) or lower and your freezer is set to (-18°C) or lower.
• Store raw meat and poultry in sealed containers or plastic bags on racks at the bottom of the refrigerator to prevent their juices from contaminating other foods.
• Use refrigerated leftovers for 2-3 days and cook them to the appropriate temperature.
• Cut the remaining whole roast into small portions and store them in the refrigerator.
• Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of cooking. If food is left on for more than 2 hours, discard it.
• Leaveover food, especially high-risk foods such as rice, pasta, soups, and gravies, place in shallow containers and allow them to cool quickly.
• Avoid overpackaging food in the refrigerator as this can prevent food from cooling properly.

Tips for preparing food safely

• Touching raw meat or poultry, using the restroom, sneezing or coughing, petting animals, taking out the trash, using a mobile phone, and other actions can result in hands
• After becoming rough of the activity, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Contaminate.
• Clean dishes, cutting boards, countertops, and other surfaces with soap and warm water, especially after handling raw meat or poultry.
• Use separate cutting boards for vegetables and meat or poultry.
• Use only a clean rag and sponge.
• Use a food thermometer to make sure that the food you cook reaches a high enough temperature.
• Keep the ingredients in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.
• Wash thoroughly before peeling or cutting fresh produce. Under running water, gently wipe the product with your hands, or use a vegetable brush to brush the harder produce
• products, such as melons.
• Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage or lettuce head.

Other tips

• Stay up-to-date with local and regional food recalls.
• Make sure the takeaway food is warm and if it has been left for more than 2 hours, reheat it to a safe temperature before serving.
• Use insulated lunch bags and refrigerated bags to keep food out of the danger zone.

Summary: You can reduce the risk of bacterial contamination by doing safe food handling from purchase to consumption, ensuring the safety of you and others.

Conclusion

Bacterial contamination is one of the leading causes of foodborne illness and can occur at any stage of food production. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to prevent bacterial contamination.

When food is placed in a temperature range called a danger zone, i.e. (4–60°C), the bacteria on it double within 20 minutes. If left for too long, it can greatly increase the risk of bacterial contamination and cause illness when consuming this food.

Make sure you follow safe food handling methods, such as cooking food to adjust the temperature, discarding leftovers after 2-3 days, and keeping food as far away from the danger zone as possible. If you're not sure if a certain food is safe, it's best to throw it away.

With these tips, there are plenty of things you can do to protect yourself and others from foodborne illness.

  If you don't have a food thermometer, consider buying one. It's a great tool to ensure that you're cooking and reheating food at temperatures that kill harmful bacteria and make it safer to eat.

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