How to keep what you eat to make you sick

The familiar moan, "Must be something I ate", are often people give explanation to a stomachache, diarrhea or abdominal cramps. And, unfortunately, your meal is often the source of these symptoms, usually caused by food-borne diseases.

In fact, approximately 30% of all food-borne diseases are caused by improper handling of food at home. These food-borne diseases are caused by a variety of bacteria that can infect the food that you eat every day. Common symptoms of foodborne illness include stomach pain, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, fever, fatigue, and sometimes blood or pus in the stool. Victims often refer to their disease as "stomach flu", but the flu virus has nothing to do with most of these cases.

Symptoms can occur soon after 30 minutes you eat, or they cannot show until days or weeks after having eaten contaminated food. Symptoms usually last for a day or two, but sometimes they can last up to 10 days.

For most healthy people, these food-borne diseases are not fatal. However, they can be very dangerous in children, the elderly or those who are already sick or that have weak immune system. People who experience serious symptoms should consult your doctor immediately.

However, the best way to combat such incident or illness is prevented from occurring. And you don't need to prepare your food in a sterile lab to prevent the spread of bacteria. You only need to follow a few safety tips.

1. Always take your packaged foods and canned in the first place and never buy food in cans bulging or dented, or in jars that are cracked or have loose or bulging lids.

2. look for expiration dates on food you buy and never purchase outdated foods, especially among dairy products like milk and cheese. Instead, choose those that will stay fresh for longer.

3. buy eggs that are class a or better and always open the package to make sure none of egg is cracked and leaking.

4. pick up frozen foods and meat last, just before the gong at the checkout counter. And always put these foods in separate plastic bags to keep them from dripping onto other foods in your shopping cart.

5. check for cleaning at your supermarket. If the place is dirty, especially around the meat and fish counters, it would not be the best place to shop.

6. Finally, bring food straight home and store properly. If it will take you over an hour to get home, take an ice chest to help keep frozen and perishable foods cool.

Now, these are basic tips that you need to follow to keep your food make you sick.