Safe Eating: Protect Yourself and Your Family Against Deadly Bacteria (Mass Market Paperback)

Product Description
It's an alarming fact: our food is making us sick.

There are 81 million or more cases of food-borne illnesses every year, resulting in 9,000 deaths.
E.  coli 0157:H7 causes over 20,000 illnesses and kills up to 500 people annually.
Two to four million illnesses occur in the U.S.  each year from salmonella.

The list goes on.  But you do not have to be on it.

A physician who is also a food safety expert, and an award-winning journalist, now provide the facts you need to prevent and find treatment for food-borne infections caused by "bad bugs" that cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.  This groundbreaking book tells you:

How to stop 85% of food poisoning risks immediately...with just two simple practices
Which foods and food preparation practices place you at a higher risk of illness
How to eat safely in restaurants, at parties, and while traveling
Why taking antibiotics and antacids puts you at greater risk
How to distinguish between food poisoning and the "stomach flu"
What to do if you're sick...and when to get medical attention fast

From the Publisher
"The book contains a wealth of information on common pathogens that contribute to food-borne illnesses and things we can do to minimize our risk of illness. The number of authoritative sources cited in the book is impressive."
--Rosetta Newsome, Ph.D., Senior Food Scientist, Institute of Food Technologistsyes

Inside Flap Copy
It's an alarming fact: our food is making us sick.

There are 81 million or more cases of food-borne illnesses every year, resulting in 9,000 deaths.
E.  coli 0157:H7 causes over 20,000 illnesses and kills up to 500 people annually.
Two to four million illnesses occur in the U.S.  each year from salmonella.

The list goes on.  But you do not have to be on it.

A physician who is also a food safety expert, and an award-winning journalist, now provide the facts you need to prevent and find treatment for food-borne infections caused by "bad bugs" that cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted.  This groundbreaking book tells you:

How to stop 85% of food poisoning risks immediately...with just two simple practices
Which foods and food preparation practices place you at a higher risk of illness
How to eat safely in restaurants, at parties, and while traveling
Why taking antibiotics and antacids puts you at greater risk
How to distinguish between food poisoning and the "stomach flu"
What to do if you're sick...and when to get medical attention fast

About the Author
David W.K.  Acheson, M.D., is a former practicing physician with a specialty in gastroenterology, who has treated numerous patients with food-borne illnesses.  He is currently director of the food safety initiative at New England Medical Center and is a member of the immunology faculty at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, where he is researching the shiga toxin, the deadly substance emitted by E.  coli bacteria.  His research has been widely published in medical journals, and in 1996 he received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study E.  coli-related illnesses.

Robin K. Levinson is an author and award-winning journalist specializing in health, science, and fitness.  Her other books include A Woman Doctor's Guide to Osteoporosis, A Woman Doctor's Guide to Infertility, If You Think You Have Depression, and If You Think You Have Seasonal Affective Disorder.  She lives in Hamilton, New Jersey.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"IT MUST'VE BEEN SOMETHING I ATE":

An Overview of Food-borne Illness

Hungry after playing tennis, Cindy L. heads over to a neighborhood  restaurant that happens to be a popular hangout for local retirees. On her  way in, she passes a group of senior citizens sitting on plastic chairs  outside the restaurant door, greeting friends who stream in for a bite to  eat. Inside the restaurant, everyone seems oblivious to the fact that  their lives may be in danger. The peril isn't an armed robber, a ticking  bomb under the cash register, or even a grease fire. The threat is  dangerous food-borne microorganisms that are tasteless, odorless, and  invisible to the naked eye.

A glance around the restaurant reveals a confluence of human errors that  could lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, long-term disability, or  even death for anyone who eats at the restaurant that day--particularly  the most elderly patrons. Waitresses wipe tables with dirty cloths. Behind  the lunch counter, three dozen eggs, which should be refrigerated, are  stacked next to the grill. The cook uses the same spatula to flip  partially cooked hamburgers and to remove fully cooked hamburgers from the  grill. The server nonchalantly sticks her thumb into the pancakes as she  delivers them to Cindy's table. To top it all off, the pancakes are  slightly raw inside.

Cindy has read about food-borne diseases, and she is outraged by her  experience at the restaurant. This book will show you why--from a  microscopic point of view--she has every right to be. More important,  Safe Eating will help you protect yourself and your family from  food-borne infections by explaining:

How bacteria, viruses, and parasites  can infiltrate food and drinking water, and which foods are most  vulnerable to these biological hazards;
What government and industry can  and cannot do to protect you from food-borne infections;
Why certain  people are at high risk of contracting a food-borne disease;
Why  Campylobacter and Salmonella have become the most common  causes of food-borne illness, and why Escherichia coli O157:H7 is  among the most deadly;
Why more virulent strains of bacteria are emerging,  intensifying the need for everyone to follow safe food-handling practices;
How these "bugs" wreak havoc inside the human body, and which, if any,  treatments can help;
When to seek medical attention, and how to help your  doctor diagnose a food-borne disease;
How to reduce the risk of eating  contaminated food at home and in daycare centers, nursing homes,  restaurants, and other settings.

As a consumer, you have more control over eating safely than you probably  realize. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates  that 85 percent of identified cases of food-borne infections stem from two  primary sources: failure to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold, and  poor hand-washing practices.


The Scope of Food-borne Illness

Each year in the United States, millions of people experience food-borne  infections, but only a tiny fraction of these cases are ever recognized or  reported. Since 1980, various researchers have come up with estimates  ranging from 1.4 million to 150 million food-borne infections occurring  annually across the country. In a May 1996 report, the General Accounting  Office concluded that there are 6.5 million to 81 million cases of  food-borne illness a year. Bob Howard, special assistant to the director  of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, says he has heard figures  ranging as high as 300 million cases. Stephen J. Knabel, Ph.D., a  food-safety specialist at Pennsylvania State University and the lead  author of a scientific status report on food-borne illness prepared for  the Chicago-based Institute of Food Technologists, estimates that about  one in four Americans suffers a food-borne infection each year. By his  assessment, no American family is untouched.

Food-borne illness is so widespread because bacteria and other  microorganisms are ubiquitous on Earth. Scientists have gathered bacteria  from clouds above mountain peaks and from the deepest depths of the ocean.  Bacteria exist in and on animals and people. They are even in the air we  breathe. Most of these microorganisms are harmless, or even helpful; some  are not.

"Part of the problem is that we don't really understand food-borne  diseases in this country. We only understand bits and pieces," says Dr.  Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H., Minnesota state epidemiologist and a  nationally known authority on food-borne infections. A survey conducted by  Osterholm's department in 1997 indicated that there were probably 7.8  million episodes of diarrheal illness in Minnesota that year. However,  fewer than 2,000 cases of Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli,  Shigella, and Yersinia infections were reported to the state  health department. While diarrheal diseases can be triggered by numerous  factors, Osterholm says a substantial proportion of these episodes are  probably caused by food-borne microorganisms. Not counted by the Minnesota  survey were food-borne infections that create symptoms other than  diarrhea, and illnesses caused by food-borne microorganisms that no one is  looking for.

Osterholm cites other studies suggesting that stomach illnesses are on  the rise in the United States. One conducted in Cleveland, Ohio, between  1948 and 1957, and a study done in Tecumseh, Washington, between 1965 and  1971, both found an average of one stomach illness per person per year.  But studies in five cities around the United States done in the late 1990s  found a rate of 1.4 stomach illnesses per person per year. In Minnesota,  where food-borne illness has been more intensely investigated, the rate  was even higher--1.8 illnesses per person per year. It is not uncommon for  multiple cases of food-borne illness to occur in a single individual who  is in a high-risk group and who does not take proper precautions when  handling food. A similar pattern can be seen among children who share food  or eating utensils in daycare, school, or summer-camp settings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) receives reports of  about 500 food-borne disease outbreaks annually involving a total of about  20,000 people, which represents just the tip of the iceberg.

The vast majority of food-borne illnesses resolve themselves without  treatment after a few days, but a significant number of victims develop  such serious complications as kidney failure, arthritis, and paralysis.  Campylobacter jejuni, which frequently contaminates raw or  undercooked poultry, has become the most common cause of  nonaccident-related paralysis in the United States. E. coli O157:H7  infection is now the leading cause of acute kidney failure in children.  According to one mathematical model endorsed by the National Center for  Health Statistics, up to 9,100 Americans die of a food-borne infection  each year. That figure translates to about twenty-five fatalities a day,  on average.

"I think most people believe that food-borne illness is just temporary  discomforts, and they don't realize the seriousness of other possible  consequences," says Christine M. Bruhn, Ph.D., director of the Center for  Consumer Research at the University of California at Davis.

The good news is that food-borne illnesses are often preventable. "Fight  BAC! The Partnership for Food Safety Education," a consortium of industry,  government, and scientific groups, recommends that consumers follow four  key steps--clean, separate, cook, and chill. These and many other  food-safety precautions are elaborated upon throughout this book.

The information we are presenting about food safety and food-borne  illnesses is based on the latest scientific and medical research and on  the insights and recommendations of dozens of food-safety experts working  in academia, government, and industry. These experts include biologists  and microbiologists, public health specialists, home economists,  food-safety educators, epidemiologists, consumer advocates, physicians,  food technologists, food industry consultants, researchers, nutritionists,  infectious disease specialists, and officials from the Centers for Disease  Control and Prevention, and officials from the Food and Drug  Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture  (USDA), the two agencies that regulate the production and processing of  almost all of the food sold in this country. In addition, victims of  food-borne infections candidly share their experiences in the hope of  helping others avoid similar misfortunes.

Safe Eating is divided into three parts. In Part 1 we explain how  food-borne microbes can make people sick. In addition to presenting the  possible short- and long-term medical consequences of food-b...