Food poisoning can be one of the most debilitating and sometimes deadly things to happen to a human.

The Interagency Food Safety and Collaboration in America have released a new report that sheds more light on what foods caused which poisonings most between the years of 2008 and 2012.

E. Coli
The food product found to be behind 46% of E. Coli cases was beef.

Salmonella
Surprisingly, it wasn’t chicken or eggs that were found to behind the highest rates of Salmonella (18%) but actually seeded vegetables. Eggs and fruit came in at the same level at 12% with chicken a cause of 10% of Salmonella cases.

Listeria
Tainted fruit was found to be behind half of listeria cases.

Campylobacter
Dairy amassed a huge 66% of the cause behind Campylobacter food poisoning. Today, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland stated that raw milk increases the development of foodborne illnesses. The sale of raw milk for direct human consumption in Ireland is recommended to be prohibited by the FSAI.

How can you protect yourself from food poisoning?

The HSE recommend using the 4 C’s to prevent food poisoning:

1. Cleaning
By keeping your hands, utensils and surfaces clean and always washing your hands and surfaces that have come in contact with raw meat, poultry or fish, you can avoid contamination.

2. Cooking
Always ensure your food is cooked through properly for the required time in order to avoid listeria and salmonella.

3. Chilling
Always keep food that needs refrigeration in the fridge to avoid harmful bacteria from growing and multiplying. With leftovers, always refrigerate them once cooled.

4. Cross-contamination
It is important to avoid the cross-contamination of raw foods onto other foods. Always keep raw food separate from others and ensure the utensils used are different and cleaned thoroughly afterwards.