[Click! Health] Why Food Poisoning Occurs Frequently in Autumn as Well as in Summer

Food poisoning

Food poisoning occurs most frequently in summer but also often happens in autumn when there is a large temperature difference between day and night. Since there is a risk of food poisoning if carelessness occurs in handling ingredients, cooking, or storage due to the cool weather, it is important to follow prevention guidelines.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 15th, from 2018 to last year, 341 cases of food poisoning occurred in autumn, accounting for 25% of the total cases. This is the second highest proportion after 481 cases (35%) in summer. Autumn has chilly mornings and evenings but rising temperatures during the day, which makes it easy for food poisoning bacteria to multiply. Also, since it is difficult to detect contamination when there is no change in the smell or taste of food, food poisoning occurs easily.

To prevent food poisoning, it is important to follow basic hygiene management rules such as washing and disinfecting, cooking thoroughly, boiling, and maintaining proper storage temperatures.

Ingredients should be washed thoroughly under running water before eating. When pre-processing multiple ingredients using the same sink, wash vegetables, meat, and fish in that order, and clean the sink with detergent followed by a chlorine-based disinfectant.

For ingredients mainly consumed without heating, such as salads and fresh kimchi, it is good for preventing food poisoning to soak them in a chlorine disinfectant for 5 minutes and then wash them more than three times under running water.

Meat and eggs should be cooked to a core temperature of 75℃ for at least 1 minute, and shellfish such as oysters and clams should be heated at 85℃ for at least 1 minute before consumption. For drinking water, bottled water or boiled water should be consumed.

When preparing gimbap, which is often eaten during outdoor activities, do not touch ingredients such as cooked egg sheets and ham, as well as pickled radish and imitation crab sticks that are eaten as is, with bare hands. All ingredients should be fully cooked, cooled, and then placed in containers.

Also, storing cooked food in relatively warm places such as inside vehicles exposed to sunlight poses a risk of bacterial growth, so during outdoor activities, use iceboxes or similar to transport and store food below 10℃.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.