Bacterial contamination is so harmful

From the perspective of real life, bacterial contamination manifests itself in many aspects, among which the most common and most harmful is food bacterial contamination. Once food is contaminated by bacteria, it is very easy to spoil and deteriorate. If it is consumed, it can easily cause poisoning and may also cause some infectious diseases, such as bacillary dysentery.

(1) Causing food spoilage: Food spoilage refers to all changes in food composition and sensory properties caused by various factors, mainly microorganisms. These changes are often the degradation of food ingredients accompanied by unpleasant changes in sensory properties such as color, aroma, taste, and shape, which reduces or loses the nutritional value and edible value of the food. It is one of the most common hygiene problems in food production and management. Food spoilage can lead to reduced nutritional value, reduced edible value or even loss of food, and may also cause food poisoning. Most spoilage caused by microorganisms has obvious changes in sensory properties, but the changes in sensory properties caused by some Bacillus are not obvious. They mainly occur in fermented products and canned foods. Since they produce acid but not gas, and these foods themselves have a sour taste, their characteristics are not obvious and can easily be mistaken for being problem-free. However, they may cause food poisoning after use.

(2) Inducing food poisoning: After some foods are contaminated by pathogenic bacteria, they will multiply in large numbers under suitable temperature, moisture, pH and nutritional conditions, causing the food to contain a large number of pathogenic bacteria. When the human body ingests a certain number of live bacteria, it will cause food poisoning. On the other hand, some contaminating bacteria will multiply in the food and produce toxins, causing food poisoning.

(3) Causing foodborne infectious diseases: Some pathogenic bacteria, such as Shigella dysenteriae and Salmonella typhi, can survive in food for a certain period of time after contaminating the food. If sterilization measures are not taken before consumption, foodborne infectious diseases may be caused by ingestion of living pathogenic bacteria. Common bacterial infectious diseases transmitted through food include dysentery, typhoid fever, cholera, etc.

(iv) Causing economic losses: Whether food is discarded due to food spoilage or inducing human diseases, it will be accompanied by certain economic losses. According to WHO statistics, the economic losses caused by food spoilage alone amount to tens of billions of dollars each year worldwide.

The nature and extent of the hazards of food bacterial contamination depend on the type and quantity of bacteria that contaminate the food. For example, bacterial contamination of food mainly composed of miscellaneous bacteria mainly causes food spoilage; when intestinal pathogenic bacteria contaminate food, it can cause food-borne infectious diseases or food poisoning.