Science and Our Food Supply: Investigating Food Safety from Farm to Table

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MIDDLE LEVEL

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR ONE OF THESE CREEPY CRITTERS. 

Here are some questions that will help you develop a profile on your bad bug.

NAME OF BACTERIUM (Pathogen): ——————————————————————————

  What does it need to thrive?

  What are the foods/sources associated with it and possible contaminants?

  What is the implicated illness?

  What is the incubation period for the illness?

  What are the symptoms associated with the illness?

  What is the duration of the symptoms?

  What are the steps for prevention?

  Draw a picture or make a model of your bacterium.

  What is your bacterium’s implication in the Farm-to-Table Continuum? In other words, how can your  

bacterium spread and how it can be prevented at each of these steps:

 

 Farm      Processing      Transportation      Retail      Home (table)

THE 12 

“MOST UNWANTED”

 BACTERIA

Yersinia 

enterocolitica

Campylobacter 

jejuni

Clostridium  

botulinum

Clostridium

perfringens

Escherichia coli O157:H7 

(a.k.a. E. coli O157:H7)

 Listeria 

monocytogenes

Salmonella  

Enteritidis

 Salmonella 

Typhimurium

Shigella

Staphylococcus 

aureus

Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio vulnificus