Food poisoning symptoms and causes
The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within one to two days of eating contaminated food, although they may start at any point between a few hours and several weeks later. The main symptoms include feeling sick, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and/or a high temperature.
Many people fail to recognise symptoms to be as a result of food poisoning and presume the symptoms to be side-effects of chemotherapy treatment.
Consult your contact at the treatment centre or GP if you suspect you have food poisoning.
Food safety malpractices can increase the risk of food poisoning that can result in illness and infection, such malpractices include:
● not cooking meat and eggs thoroughly
● not refrigerating chilled food products at temperatures below 5˚c
● leaving leftover food for too long at warm temperatures
● failing to reheating leftover food thoroughly
● allowing someone who is ill to prepare food
● prolonged storage of opened ready-to-eat foods
● inadequate hand hygiene practices prior to or during food preparation
● consuming food products that are beyond the "use by" date
● the spread of bacteria between raw and cooked foods via hands, surfaces or equipment
● consuming high risk food products
Family caregivers should not prepare food for people undergoing chemotherapy treatment if they are unwell for at least 48 hours after the last episode of illness, contact should be kept to a minimum.
Towels should not be shared and hygiene practices should be thoroughly implemented.
