As a reminder to individuals living with diabetes during November — National Diabetes Month — Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are publicizing the importance of food-handling safety to prevent illness by offering a free booklet.
In a booklet titled "Food Safety for People with Diabetes," the FDA outlined four steps to minimize pathogen risk: clean, separate, cook and chill foods properly, according to an FDA announcement. Bacteria can spread on kitchen surfaces, between raw food items and from insufficient internal cooking temperatures or refrigeration.
Because diabetes can affect the health of organs and systems, awareness of foodborne illness, or food poisoning, is critical. Individuals living with diabetes who contract foodborne illness may experience longer periods of illness, longer recovery times or hospitalization or could die, according to the announcement.
Anyone contracting a foodborne illness should take action quickly by contacting their health care provider, the FDA said. Symptoms of food poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache and body ache.
The free booklet can be downloaded or hard copies can be ordered by calling 888-674-6854 or by emailing mphotline.fsis@usda.gov.
