Each year in Australia, there are millions of food poisoning cases all over the country, which cause 31,920 hospitalizations. Of them, 86 people will lose their lives.
A new study from the Food Safety Information Council has discovered that many Australians do not know the necessary steps to follow in order to reduce the risk.
According to the Council, one in three Australian households have at least one person that is especially vulnerable, such as pregnant women, young children and the elderly . These individuals risk serious illness if they get food poisoning and in some cases, death.
Lack of awareness
The Council’s spokesperson, Lydia Buchtmann, says there is not enough awareness on the matter.
''We've got a good, safe food supply in Australia. But even so, there's still 4.1 million cases of food poisoning each year. It's pretty important (and) quite a strain on the health system. At the moment there's quite a low knowledge of food safety in the community and we want to bring that up," said Mrs Buchtmann.
The study also found that 70 per cent of Australians don’t know the safe cooking temperature for foods, such as poultry and eggs, which often carry salmonella.
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How to reduce the risk
Mrs Buichtmann notes that there are few steps that people can take to reduce the risk.
“Getting a meat thermometer, to make sure you’re cooking risky foods like sausages, hamburger patties and poultry to 75 degrees Celsius. Egg dishes need to be cooked to 72 degrees Celsius. It's very trendy to have raw egg dishes at the moment. People like aioli or raw egg mayonnaise. But keep in mind you can get really bad cases of food poisoning from raw eggs -- they do come out of chickens' bottoms."
Cathy Moir is a food microbiologist at the national science agency, the CSIRO.
She says that people who cook at home should keep in mind four things.
"So in the home, always clean the areas where you're going to be preparing and handling foods. Cook foods properly. Make sure the food is chilled properly. If you've got leftovers, just wait until the steam comes off them and then pop them in the fridge. And separate things like your raw meats from ready-to-eat foods, like salads."
A report conducted by the World Health Organisation for the year 2015 estimates that foodborne diseases were the cause of nearly one third of deaths among children under the age of five around the world.
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