Question

Sheila attended an outdoor party with friends on a warm Saturday in July. The theme was "International Food". Sheila and her husband brought Argentinian beef empanadas. They followed the recipe and cooking time carefully taking the dish out of the oven at 2PM and kept it warm by wrapping it in a towel. They went to the party and put the food out on the table at 3PM. Dinner was to be served at 4PM but the guests were having so much fun that they did not eat until 6PM. Sheila sampled the empanadas to be sure that they still tasted good, however her husband did not taste the empanadas. Sheila also ate some green salad and garlic bread. She drank a ginger beer too. They went home at 11PM and went to bed. At midnight Sheila woke up knowing that something was wrong, she had severe abdominal pain and had to run to the bathroom. She had severe diarrhea for the next 4 hours. By the time the sun came up she was starting to feel better and by lunchtime she was feeling back to her old self. Her husband did not get ill. But on Monday she discovered that several of her friends were also sick Saturday night.

After reading Chapter 13, use facts from our text to write complete sentences answering the following:

1. Based on her symptoms, what type of food-borne illness did Sheila contract?

2. What is the specific food ingredient most likely to have caused this illness? Why?

3. Why is consuming food at large gatherings risky?

4. What precautions for avoiding food poisoning were ignored by Sheila and her friends at the party?

5. How could this scenario be rewritten to reduce the risk of food poisoning?

Answer 1

1. The most important foodborne bacterial pathogens associated with meat are Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium perfringes, and Aeromonas hydrophila. Leaving food out too long at room temperature can cause bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coil to grow to dangerous levels that can cause illness.

2. Beef left out for a few hours at room temperature caused the growth of bacteria that caused the foodborne illness.

3. Proper refrigeration equipment may not be available. Attendees may not practice safe food handling techniques.

4. She should not have kept the empanadas wrapped in a towel as it allowed the growth of bacteria. Moreover, she placed the beef filled empanadas outside for about 6 hours which readily allowed the bacterial growth.

5. She would have refrigerated the empanadas and then just before eating the Dinner she could have taken it ou t and then heated. This would have avoided food poisoning.