Foodborne diseases are caused by contamination of food and occur at any stage of the food chain, from production to consumption. They can result from several forms of environmental contamination including pollution in water, soil or air, as well as unsafe food storage and processing.
Image taken from freepik.com
According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (n.d.), an outbreak of infection or foodborne illness may be defined as two or more linked cases of the same illness or the situation where the observed number of cases exceeds the expected number, or a single case of disease caused by a significant pathogen (e.g. diphtheria or viral haemorrhagic fever). Outbreaks may be confined to some of the members of one family or may be more widespread and involve cases either locally, nationally or internationally.
Image taken from freepik.com
According to the research of Lorenzo et al. (2018), the main groups of microorganisms of relevance for food safety and stability are:
Certain conditions are needed for the development of microorganisms in foods. The ideal temperature for the growth of microorganisms is between 5°C and 63°C (The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, 2018). The moisture content of food is important for the development and reproduction of microorganisms. It has long been known that dried foodstuffs keep longer and are not able to support the growth of microorganisms. Under favourable conditions, microorganisms can double in size within 20 minutes (LIVESTRONG.com, 2020).
Image taken from https://microbenotes.com/food-spoilage-microorganisms/