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Micro-organisms
Micro-organisms
are invisible
living cells. The most common micro-organisms are: bacteria, parasites,
viruses, moulds and yeasts.
The most common micro-organisms that cause food poisonings are
bacteria.
Bacteria are single celled organisms that reproduces through
multiplication, that means it reproduces by dividing itself. One cell
becomes two, two cells becomes four, four cells become eight and so on.
In perfect conditions, bacteria can reproduce and double its number
every 20 minutes. The number of bacteria can reach dangerous levels
very quickly in a short period of time.
To
grow bacteria need: food, acid, temperature, time, oxygen and
moisture.
Most disease causing bacteria grow best at pH¹ of 5 to 8.
Food poisoning occur when the food eaten is contamined with living
pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria are dangerous because they are
odourless and teastless which make them difficult to detect in the food.
Spoilage organisms cause odours and smell bad and are easy to detect.
They are less dangerous and may or may not make you ill. Because they
are so easy to detect, in most cases people will not eat them.
NOTE: There
are also some micro-organisms beneficial to humans such as the ones
that make cheese, sauerkraut, yogurt etc.
¹pH is the
level of acid in food. Neutral is zero (0).
Related Info:
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Did You Know?
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Bacteria
(especially E. coli) may be used to replicate DNA in the form of a
plasmid. This DNA is often chemically modified in vitro then inserted
into bacteria to select for the desired traits and isolate the desired
product from by-products of the reaction. After growing the bacteria
and thereby replicating the DNA, the DNA may be further modified and
inserted into other organisms. More...
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Bacteria
grow best in
the temperature range between 4ºC and 60ºC. Temperature below
4ºC, and temperature between 60ºC and 74ºC, will not
kill bacteria, but it will not allow them to multiply enough times to
cause an illness. In order to kill pathogenic bacteria you need
temperatures above 74ºC. Temperature is the easiest factor to
control in order to prevent bacterial growth.
Find
out more...
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Bacterial
intoxication will typically have shorter incubation period than
infection (with sudden onset), which usually only lasts one day and
fever is rarely present. More...
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Improperly
handled
food and equipment, poorly washed dishes and multi-service articles
have potential to spread pathogenic bacteria and open the door for
dangerous foodborne diseases. More...
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