96 Unit 2 Nutrition and Food Choices Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. • Salmonella is a bacterium that is common in the intestines of birds, reptiles, and mammals. It can spread to humans through various foods such as milk products, undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, peanut butter, and cantaloupe. • Clostridium perfringens is a bacterium commonly found on raw meat and poultry, which produces a toxin that causes illness. • Campylobacter, the most commonly identified bacterial cause of fi diarrheal illness in the world, is an organism that is present in undercooked chicken or another food that has been contaminated with juices from raw chicken (Figure 3.19). Because these different diseases have many different symptoms, it can be diffi to determine whether a particular illness is caused by some- ficult thing you ate. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea are, however, common symptoms of many foodborne diseases. Foodborne Illness Caused by Intoxication Other types of food poisoning are caused by toxins in the food. These toxins are produced by an organism present in the food. This type of food- borne illness is called foodborne intoxication. f oodborne intoxicatio n Three common causes of foodborne intoxication are • Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium that lives in the digestive tracts of humans and animals and can cause diarrhea, anemia, and kid- ney failure although some strains of this bacterium are harmless, other strains can make a toxin that causes infection and disease • Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium that can grow in some foods and produce a toxin that causes intense vomiting and • Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that grows and produces a powerful paralytic toxin in foods, causing the rare but deadly dis- ease known as botulism. Toxins can be present in food for other reasons. Toxins may be the re- sult of contamination from chemicals, heavy metals, or other substances. Preparing raw meat and vegetables on the same cutting board can cause cross-contamination. How many cutting boards do you have in your house? How does your family prevent cross-contamination? Figure 3.19 foodborne f intoxication an illness caused by toxins that an organism has produced in a food toxins may also be produced by chemicals, heavy metals, or other substances