Remember that scene in the movie Bridesmaids when Annie takes the bridal party to a cheap restaurant and then food poisoning takes unstoppable hold of the group?
The gross-out sequence, set in a luxury bridal boutique, does a pretty good job of capturing the awful truth of food handled poorly.
Someone who knows the gut-grippingly painful experience of food poisoning first-hand is Perth scientist Dr Rina Wong.
The Curtin University microbiologist became violently ill after eating what she suspected was a single dodgy prawn from a platter served at an eatery in New South Wales last year.
“Everything else I ate at the restaurant, my husband ate and he was fine,” she said.
While the film sees the bridal party fighting for use of the single toilet — and the bride, Lillian, eventually soiling herself in the street — Dr Wong never experienced that level of carnage.
But she did become extremely unwell with dysentery — a severe form of food poisoning that causes bloody diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain — and wound up in the emergency department.
“I was texting my mum saying ‘I am in so much pain’,” Dr Wong said.
“It felt like someone was pulling my guts out. It was horrible.”
Oh, how the food we love can betray us.
According to official figures, there are about 4.68 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year.
About 47,900 people wind up in hospital and 38 die, while the annual cost of food-borne illnesses is $2.44 billion.
Dr Wong said the risk of food poisoning was particularly high at Christmas because bacteria grew quickly in warm weather and food was often left out.
LiveLighter WA dietitian Gael Myers said most cases were the result of eating food left to stand — cooked or uncooked — at temperatures that permitted bacteria to grow, particularly those that could make us sick.
“The hotter the weather, and the longer the food sits out, the more likely the food is to get into the danger zone where bacteria thrive,” Ms Myers said, noting the danger zone was between 5C and 60C.
To prevent a bout of sickness, Ms Myers recommended always following the two-hour/four-hour rule, which applies to potentially hazardous foods like cooked meat, dairy products and prepared fruits, or any foods you would normally keep in the fridge.
Generally speaking, it takes more than four hours for food poisoning bacteria to grow to dangerous levels, which is why timing and temperature are so crucial to minimising risk.
She said if food has been sitting on the Christmas table for more than four hours, it must be thrown away to remove the risk of being stricken with food poisoning.
If it’s been out for between two and four hours, the food can be eaten, but it can’t be put back in the fridge.
You can eat or pack food away in the fridge for leftovers if it has been out for less than two hours.
“This is cumulative,” Ms Myers said. “Each time food is brought out and is in the ‘temperature danger zone’, it adds up.”
She said food poisoning occured when we consumed food or drinks contaminated with bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms or the toxins produced by those bugs.
It can cause stomach pain, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting, as well as broader symptoms including headache, tiredness, fever and chills.
Some groups are at greater risk of serious illness — even death — including babies and young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems.
As for how long certain foods last after serving, how to store them, and how to prevent sickness, both health experts said some basic steps could be taken to reduce the chance of yuletide misery.
Tips to avoid food poisoning
First, you shouldn’t be helping with food preparation if you are unwell.
Dr Wong stressed it was also crucial to clean both hands, work surfaces and all kitchen tools, including chopping boards, before and after touching food.
Make sure all fruit and vegetables are thoroughly washed, too, and that all meat is fully cooked before eating.
She said a food thermometer could be useful to ensure the core of the meat had reached the correct temperature of above 70C.
Raw meat and chicken must always be kept away from cooked foods, she added.
“Follow the two-hour/four-hour rule whenever potentially hazardous foods are in the temperature danger zone,” Ms Myers said.
“And write how long food has been out of the fridge on the food container or on a piece of masking tape so you can keep track of how long it’s been out.
“Once it’s been out for a total of more than two hours, it needs to be eaten straight away rather than going back in the fridge.
“If in doubt, throw it out.”
When storing leftovers (food that has been out for less than two hours) she suggested packing them in smaller containers to help them cool down quickly and limiting the amount of times they go in and out of the fridge.
She said there was no need to wait until food was cool before putting it back in the fridge.
How long are leftovers safe to eat?
Ms Myers said different leftovers would be safe in the fridge for different amounts of time.
“Most cooked foods that will be reheated can be kept in the fridge for two to four days,” she said.
“Make sure your fridge temperature is below 5C, and check and adjust if necessary because summer parties are hot and busy for the fridge.”
She said when food safety tips were followed, Christmas leftovers could be given new life.
Roast turkey and cooked meats
A cooked ham could be wrapped in foil or plastic and eaten within three days after serving, or at a later date if slices were immediately frozen, Dr Wong said.
However, eat turkey within two days of cooking.
All poultry and meat that has been minced or rolled, including beef and lamb, needs to be cooked to at least 74C in the centre.
Dr Wong said relying on the colour of that meat is not a reliable indicator that it was properly cooked — and undercooked poultry, for example, could be a source of salmonella.
“Turkey is so big and chunky that the safest way to know it is cooked is to use a meat thermometer to ensure it reaches 74C,” she said.
Microorganisms from raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs can spread to fruits, vegetables, cooked foods and other ready-to-eat foods unless you keep them separate, she added.
“So keep your turkey chopping board and utensils separate to the one you use for fruit and veggies to prevent cross-contamination, and try not to let the cooked turkey come into contact with your own skin when slicing it or putting it away,” she said.
“Instead, grab the foil on the bone to support the meat rather than coming into contact with it.”
Pavlova and trifle
Eat leftover pavlova and trifle within two days, Dr Wong said.
“I have eaten pavlova three days later, but I would not recommend this,” she said.
She said cream was vulnerable to bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus and listeria, and “hand hygiene is so important with cream and custard”.
Dr Wong warned E. coli could be present in cheese and dairy products made from unpasteurised milk.
When raw eggs are used for a pavlova base, ensure the core reaches above 74C in the oven.
Always wash your hands before handling ingredients like fruit and use clean tools when whipping cream, Dr Wong said.
Seafood
Dr Wong said seafood such as fish, molluscan shellfish and crustaceans were associated with listeria monocytogenes.
Be sure to purchase seafood from a registered seafood supplier and avoid harvesting your own shellfish from the river because the risk of toxins and viruses such as norovirus and hepatitis A, she said.
Seafood such as oysters should be immediately chilled on ice, covered, and put in the fridge, preferably on the bottom shelf so there is no risk of them dripping on to other food.
Oysters are susceptible to harmful bacteria vibrio vulnificus, which can cause a life-threatening illness.
The only safe way to prepare oysters was to cook them through thoroughly, Dr Wong said.
“Oysters can’t stay on the table for longer than two hours, and best they are kept on ice,” she said.
“Hot Tabasco, chilli sauce and lemon juice with oysters will help kill some of the germs, and wasabi with sashimi helps too.
“With sashimi, pre-freezing the fish help kills any potential parasites before you thaw and slice it up to eat.”
Dr Wong said seafood should be thrown out if it got to four hours at room temperature.
Christmas salads
Salads are prone to listeria.
Dr Wong suggested washing all fruit and vegetables, even if the packet said they were pre-washed.
Simply swirl the salad in a large bowl of water first, and then rinse the leaves off again in a colander.
Remember to practise good hand hygiene, especially when handling raw vegetables, and use tongs, rather than your hands, to toss salads, she said.
Cheese platters
Soft cheeses need strict temperature control, so only serve what you think you’ll eat, and keep the rest wrapped in the fridge.
Throw out soft cheese that has signs of mould, and don’t use it past the use-by date.
If your hard cheese has a little bit of mould on the outside, it’s safe to cut off a section a few centimetres below where the mould starts, and eat the rest of the block.
This is because hard cheese has a dense structure and a low water content, which are two important factors in reducing bacterial growth.
However, Ms Myers said, if you find mould on soft or fresh cheese, on grated hard cheese, or if mould has made its way deeper into the hard cheese block, the whole lot needs to be binned.
Dr Wong reminded pregnant women to avoid soft cheese altogether because of the risk of listeriosis.