How to Identify and Help Prevent Foodborne Illness

What Is Foodborne Illness?

Foodborne illness refers to diseases that cause sickness through contaminated food or beverages. They may also be referred to as foodborne disease, foodborne infection, or by the most common term, food poisoning.

What Causes Food Borne Illness?

There are many different germs that can lead to the more than 250 identified Foodborne Illnesses, including Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter.¹ These germs are most likely transferred from food handlers to food or through cross contamination of raw ingredients.

How Can Safeguard Help Prevent Foodborne Illness?

Washing your hands frequently when handling food is important in helping to protect against the spread of Foodborne illness. Safeguard with GermShield+ keeps more germs away longer than any other antibacterial soap after hand washing.

Here are other tips for handling food that can help prevent foodborne illness:

Wash your hands between handling different types of food.
Clean utensils, such as knives or tongs, between using them to handle different types of food.
Don’t allow cooked food to touch raw food.
Only use clean water. Even water from irrigation can be contaminated with sewage.
Properly refrigerate food. Most bacteria grow more quickly in warm, moist environments.
Heat food to an internal temperature above 160ºF, or 78ºC, for a few seconds.

For more information on how to protect against foodborne illnesses, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.