A head of lettuce sealed in plastic. A chicken tender from the hot bar at the local grocery. A bowl of cereal. An oyster served on a bed of ice at a fancy seafood bar.
Which of these foods can give you food poisoning?
Most people might guess the oyster, but the answer is that any of these foods — even the cooked and packaged ones — can carry foodborne illness.
Food contamination can lead to illnesses that are uncomfortable or painful. For the very young, elderly, or people with compromised health, food contamination can even be deadly.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes foodborne illness as a common but preventable illness that comes from eating food contaminated with pathogens. A person can experience food poisoning from bacteria like salmonella. Or they can pick up the pathogen from viruses like the norovirus.
Because most people recover on their ...
