Which of the following is most likely to cause foodborne illness? keeping a flat of eggs on the counter and using it within one hour pooling 10 eggs for making omelets and storing it in an ice bath touching raw meat and then touching fresh fruit taking one to two hours to heat left over soup

Touching raw meat and then touching fresh fruit is most likely to cause foodborne illness .

Further Explanation

Touching raw meat and then touching fresh fruit is a form of cross contamination.  

Cross contamination is when the harmful bacteria transfers from  food to other food, utensils, cutting boards and other kitchen materials if they are poorly handled. This especially happens when handling raw meat, poultry, and seafood because they are known to be potentially hazardous food – food that support harmful bacteria growth. Going back to the correct answer, touching raw meat can facilitate the transfer of harmful bacteria from the raw meat to the fresh fruit via touching. Hence, washing of hands thoroughly in between handling of food is an important action in food safety.

Keeping a flat of eggs on the counter and using it within one hour is not likely to cause foodborne illness because one hour of holding before using a certain food is still acceptable. Maximum holding time of food at the Danger Zone (40 ℉ - 140 ℉) is 2 hours. After 2 hours it is expected that bacteria has grown to unsafe levels.

Danger Zone (40 ℉ - 140 ℉) is the range of temperature where it is very ideal for harmful bacteria to grow rapidly.

Pooling 10 eggs for making omelets and storing it in an ice bath is not likely to cause foodborne illness because it is stored in an ice bath. The ice bath provides the proper temperature to keep the eggs out of Danger Zone.

Taking one to two hours to heat left over soup is not likely to cause foodborne illness because one to two hours of holding the soup before heating is still within the acceptable holding time. Maximum holding time of food at the Danger Zone (40 ℉ - 140 ℉) is 2 hours. After 2 hours it is expected that bacteria has grown to unsafe levels.  

Learn More

1. Danger Zone

2. Contaminant

3. Potential Food Hazard

Keywords: cross contamination, danger zone

The foodborne illness is caused due to touching of raw material and then touching of fresh fruit.

Further Explanation:

Foodborne illness is a type of infection in which there occurs irritation of the gastrointestinal tract which is caused by food or beverages having harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemicals in them. Mostly the foodborne illnesses are acute which means that it occurs suddenly and remains there for short period of time.

Some of the symptoms of foodborne illness are relied upon the kind of microorganism present in them. However many of them have common symptoms such as:

1. Fever

2. Abdominal pain

3. Vomiting

4. Diarrhea

5. Chills

The symptom can be mild to severe and can also last for very long duration.

Foodborne disease caused by bacteria:

Raw foods like meat, fish, poultry, milk and other food also contains bacteria that may cause foodborne illness. This contamination may occur at any time during processing storage, during growth and shipping of food.

Foodborne disease caused by viruses:

Viruses can spread by the vomit and stool from those who are already infected. The infected individual may contaminate the food and drinks if hygiene of the food is not maintained.

Foodborne disease caused by chemicals:

Pesticides present over the surface of vegetable and fruits may cause foodborne.

Learn more:

1. Learn more about bacteria

2. Learn more about food contamination

3. Learn more about chemicals

Answer Details:

Grade: College Biology

Subject: Health

Chapter: The foodborne disease

Keywords:

Foodborne illness, infection, gastrointestinal tract, food, bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, acute, microorganism, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fish, viruses.