Salmonella is a bacteria infected disease and therefore, the key for the prevention is naturally cleanliness. There is no vaccine to protect humans from these bacterial infections, only hygienic conditions and neatness are the key factors for prevention. The chief objective of preventing Salmonella is to create awareness and educate the public about the causes of these bacterial infections and the necessitative steps that should be taken to avoid such infections.
Steps for Salmonella Prevention
- Maintain healthy and hygienic surroundings.
- Wash your hands properly after playing with your pets.
- Always drink chlorine treated bacteria free water.
- Processing, cooking and consuming raw eggs or poultry must be according to doctor’s recommendations.
- Processing, cooking and consuming raw meat must be according to doctor’s recommendations.
- Processing and consuming fruits and raw vegetables must be according to doctor’s recommendations.
- Contamination and cross-contamination of foods should be avoided.
- Maintain hygienic kitchen and thorough cleaning of utensils.
Maintain healthy and hygienic surroundings
Maintaining clean and healthy environment of your surroundings is a key. Never allow surface water storage as stored surface water carries these bacteria. Always properly dispose your garbage and see that litter and garbage are timely recycled.
Wash your hands properly after playing with your pets
Generally animals and pets are the most common carriers of Salmonella. In order to prevent being infected wash your hands properly after playing with your pets and after coming in contact with animals like turtles, snakes and pigs. Wash your hands thoroughly even after gardening.
Always drink chlorine treated bacteria free water
Salmonella can live in dry environment and also in water. These can be removed from water only after treating the water by chlorine and proper boiling as these bacteria cannot be harmed at room temperatures. Never drink stored water in open air as this water can be contaminated due to bacteria present in the air.
Processing, cooking and consuming raw eggs or poultry
Hens carry these bacteria through their intestines and even before the formation of outer shell of the eggs, the Salmonella bacteria can be present inside. So, never eat raw eggs – eat only thoroughly cooked eggs. Wash your hands properly after processing and cooking raw eggs. Clean the knives, kitchen boards and dishes thoroughly after processing raw poultry and consume only properly cooked poultry.
Processing, cooking and consuming raw meat
When processing raw meat you need to be careful with defrosting and cleaning raw meat. Raw meat sometimes carries Salmonella bacteria and consumption of raw meat or uncooked meat will cause these bacterial infections. Properly wash and clean the dishes and kitchen boards, knives and platform with soap and hot water and also clean your hands thoroughly with hot water to avoid being infected by these bacteria.
Processing, cooking and consuming fruits and raw vegetables
Fruits and raw vegetables may carry these bacteria and consuming these fruits directly without proper cleaning and consuming raw vegetables can cause Salmonella infection.
Contamination and cross-contamination of foods should be avoided
After processing, cooking and consuming please dispense thoroughly the leftovers of food and make sure to dispense the garbage to avoid contamination of food. Generally, people tend to keep the cooked and uncooked or raw foods together for refrigeration. This is very harmful as raw meat may consists of Salmonella and cross-contamination of food usually occurs here. Even while shopping people tend to carry raw meat and fruits and vegetables together – this is also harmful. Please carry these separately to avoid cross-contamination.
Maintain hygienic kitchen and thorough cleaning of utensils
Regular and proper cleaning of kitchen and its utensils is highly recommended for avoiding Salmonella infections. Generally, these are foodborne infections and can live and breed at room temperatures. Clean all the kitchen utensils after preparing your food with hot water to kill these bacteria. Store all the food products properly to avoid these bacterial infections.
Apart from all these instructions, for prevention of Salmonella, government and public health authorities should educate people working in food processing units and restaurants and also ensure that these organizations follow cleanliness. Humans once affected with these bacterial infections, should avoid cooking and serving food and water and other products until they are cured from these infections. If any affected cases are found, then public awareness should be spread and necessitative steps should be taken to avoid spreading of these bacterial infections.
Extreme care should be taken in case of infants and elderly people as the immunization levels are very low for these types. Awareness of these should be spread among pregnant women as they need to be more careful to avoid any harm for the baby and for themselves as their immunity levels are also low.
Conclusion
Till date there is no vaccine created or found and researchers are still trying to develop vaccines for all these various types of bacterial infections. As you might have heard the saying “prevention is better than cure,” the best way to avoid salmonella infection is prevention.
