Remember that Tupperware of leftover white chicken chili you made last week? You sniff it, you eyeball it, you stick your finger in it. Hmmm? Time flies when you're working two jobs and trying to put dinner on the table. Sure, maybe you forgot to put the potato salad away after lunch, but with inflation and the cost of food the way it is, who wants to waste a perfectly good serving of potato glue? And what about that cheese? Yes, there is a small amount of mold on the surface, but the rest of it seems fine.
You're tired and you're hungry. Sure, the chicken is a bit pink, but does it really matter? And what about expiration dates; can you really trust them? So many questions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 48 million people get sick from foodborne illness each year.
That is 1 in 6 Americans, making it an all-too-common condition. The most common food poisoning symptoms include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, stomach pain, fever, headache and weakness. While most people will recover quickly with the aid of home remedies and over-the-counter medications, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne disease each year in the United States.
Fortunately, thanks to the eff orts of public health sanitarians, rarely do we have to worry about buying and consuming contaminated food from stores and restaurants. Sanitation systems are in place to protect the public from contaminated food and water; one of the many marvels of public health in action. Shoul.
