How To Prevent Food Borne Disease Listeria?

Kids

oi-Anwesha

By Anwesha Barari

Wednesday, October 19, 2011, 16:34

Food borne diseases result in the majority of deaths in infants and kids. In spite of the advancement in medical science several children die every year of something as common as diarrhea. So, when it comes to a kid disease slightly more complicated and severe like Listeria then the odds are greater. This is a food borne bacterial disease that can affect almost anybody but in pregnant women and small children it has severe consequences. It is quite dangerous but listeria is treatable; however prevention is better than cure as it lead to massive weight loss and weakens the child's immune system.

As the festive season is on it is better to keep a watch over what your kids are eating because they feast indiscriminately. Here some special tips to help you prevent this food borne disease from affecting your kids.

Tips For Prevention Of Listeria In Kids:

• You need to be careful about the vegetables you buy and from where you buy them. If the place where the vegetables are being sold is dirty or near a drain there is always a possibility that the vegetables are contaminated.

• Hand pick vegetables. Sometimes some vegetables are sick looking or mutilated. Never pick such vegetables if you wish to protect your children from food borne diseases. If the tomatoes look dry or discoloured don't pick them.

• Meat too carries the bacteria for listeria if it is infected. So you need to watch what meat you are buying and how it has been preserved. If you are buying fresh meat then make sure it is from a clean and dry shop. Roadside stalls have flies swarming all over the meat.

• If you are buying frozen meat then it should not be too old. Check the dates given on the package to make sure you are not buying expired meat. It is very important to check food labels that say 'Packaged On' and 'Best Before'.

• It is a misnomer that frozen or preserved foods are always clean. Even if you are buying a frozen packet of peas you need to wash it in warm water. Frozen vegetables have more chances of being infected simply because they are not fresh. The bacteria gets a lot of time to multiply in them as you are not cooking them immediately.

• With festivals coming upon us one after the other in the last few weeks you must be stocking up your refrigerator with food. How you refrigerate foods also determines your success in preventing your kids from getting food borne diseases.

• Never give your kids stale food if you want them not to contract kid diseases. If you are storing raw foods like meat then it has to be stored in the freezer. Vegetables must be all packed into separate packets and stored so that they do not infect each other.

Listeria is a curable disease but make sure your kids don't lose the fun of the upcoming festivals by getting it.