How quickly do you know you have food poisoning?

[redkitty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigrhino2 I got Campylobacter two years ago. I was sick for five days BEFORE I became paralized and had to be hospitized. This was the worst time of my adult life. I was in for 11 days and out of work for at least 7 more. The bad thing is I remember the chicken wing I ate. I looked at it and said "OH this one is under cooked." Then I dipped it in blue cheese and I ate it. I will never do that again. I bet I did not eat chicken wings for 2 months after that.

Wow! I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you. I still can't believe how sick he got or that it took several days to come on. We are still not sure what it was he ate but we had just spend a weekend in Budapest. Even though we stayed at a 5 star hotel and ate in nice restaurants, you just never know.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes, I'm headed back down to the hospital soon.

[bigjimbray]

I got poisioned with what I thought was fresh fruit, I had a couple small necterines and a
couple hours later I did`nt know if I was going to live or die. I was sick in bed for 7-8 days in bed.

[Callisto in NC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crankin What exactly do you mean by this? Do you mean that if the meat is from a reputable source that the risk of food borne illness is pretty small? My initial reasoning for opening this thread was that I hate it when I am cooking a roast or any type of meat and I am not 100% sure that it is at the proper temperature (like sometimes my thermometer will say 140 or so for pork or 120s for salmon and I am not sure if it's safe). So I just want to know how much I should be concerned for things like that. Along those lines, whenever I eat a piece of meat that I feel is questionable in terms of whether it was as done as it should have been, I wonder how long it is until I am "clear" or if illness could still occur.

You can actually make yourself sick wondering if you've made yourself sick. I've done that. I was so worried about some cooked chicken I made myself believe my stomach was upset but my daughter, who is far more sensitive than I am, ate the same dinner and felt fine.

Steak and roast in general will be more done on the outside than the inside, in my experience. As long as you have a good cut of meat, you should be fine. Again, in my experience, getting food poisoning from steak you've cooked and handled yourself is pretty unlikely.

[crankin]

Does anyone here know why chicken is more dangerous than, say, a steak? A lot of people would probably eat a steak at 130-140 degrees but a chicken breast at that temperature would be considered unsafe. I can see why ground meats are more risky, but why a piece of chicken? Is there inherently more bacteria in poultry or is there some other reason?

[mozart]

IN GENERAL, staph is 2-12 hours onset and Salmonella is 12-24. This is for a "normal" dose, with "normal" virulence, and a "normal" immune system.

IN GENERAL, the severity of the symptoms are based on the amount of the organism ingested and its virulence. Small amounts of pathogenic bacteria can be fought off by your body without significant symptoms, if you have a "normal" immune system. This would be the lite headache and other mild diarrhea symptoms. Maybe.

The only way to know for sure is with a stool specimen examined by your doctor.

Of course, this only happens when the symptoms are acute, so many minor food poisonings go both undiagnosed and untreated and run their course if you have a "normal" immune system.

Slightly undercooked meat that is not ground and contains only part of a muscle will not likely cause severe food poisoning. This is why beef can be served rare. The is no way for the bacteria to penetrate to the inside of the muscle, and the outside will be cooked well enough.

Almost all food poisonings can be traced to grossly improper cooking or what happens after cooking.

[Caine]

From my limited experience, if you had tainted food for supper, it's gonna hit you at around 3 in the morning,when you're sound asleep and can't QUITE make it to the bathroom!

[crankin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caine From my limited experience, if you had tainted food for supper, it's gonna hit you at around 3 in the morning,when you're sound asleep and can't QUITE make it to the bathroom!

I cannot be certain, but I think that is exactly happened to me once after I ate a chicken crepe (sounds gross and it was... why I ate it I do not know). I was throwing up for about 12 hours and then had diarrhea for about 3-4 days afterwards followed by another few days of stomach cramps. That was not pleasant at all. Could that have been salmonella?

[mozart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigjimbray I got poisioned with what I thought was fresh fruit, I had a couple small necterines and a couple hours later I did`nt know if I was going to live or die. I was sick in bed for 7-8 days in bed.

You may had had a norovirus. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Respiratory and Enteric Viruses Branch

Although it says it clears up in 1 to 2 days, that is not always the case.

OTOH, people often associate illness with food because they come in close proximity (eating and getting sick) It may just be a coincidence. After all, most of us eat 3 times a day at least.

If one of your symptoms was a cough or other respiratory symptoms, then you probably had an old fashioned influenza and the symptoms came on after you ate, but were in no way related.

[mozart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crankin Does anyone here know why chicken is more dangerous than, say, a steak? A lot of people would probably eat a steak at 130-140 degrees but a chicken breast at that temperature would be considered unsafe. I can see why ground meats are more risky, but why a piece of chicken? Is there inherently more bacteria in poultry or is there some other reason?

Chicken is a carrier of the Salmonella organism and almost all chickens have this in great amounts in their bodies. It just likes what it gets from chickens.

Technically, A chicken breast that is skinless and boneless will not have an interior that is contaminated, however the outside of the breast will contain both the Salmonella bacteria, and the toxin. The toxin needs to be heated above a certain temperature and for a certain period to destabilize. White meat also cooks at a lower temp then dark meat.

So a slightly juicy BS breast won't hurt you as long as you have thoroughly cooked the outside of the meat.

This is too complicated to get across to the general public, so the warnings about chicken are based on a whole chicken, including the the really dangerous cavity.

You might notice that restaurants serve juicy chicken breasts. There is no way these have been cooked to 175 degrees. !60 is adequate, and if rested will be closer to 165.

[ChefJune]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Constance Sorry, I was just dealing with my own experience. Thank you for enlightening me. I learn something every day.

Glad you've only had ONE experience with it, Constance!

As has been said, some cases can grab you right away, some, the next day, the next week... some can be so mild that you're likely to think it's the "stomach flu." Some docs I'm friendly with say that ALL cases of "stomach flu" are really food poisoning.

and most cases of food poisoning are caused by people not washing their hands....