HEALTHWATCH : Battling Bacteria : County inspectors say the incidence of food poisoning locally is relatively low, but the number may be underreported.

The report came into the Ventura County Department of Environmental Health last Christmas Eve:

At 5 p.m. the previous afternoon, the victim had consumed a pork burrito, fried rice and some beans at a Simi Valley restaurant. About 8:30 that evening that person was in the hospital, getting treatment for nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea.

A county food inspector went to the restaurant to check out the situation to determine if the person had been stricken ill by the food. The inspector noticed some problems with the cleanliness of utensils, but that was about it.

Last year, the county’s environmental health office received 125 calls about possible food poisoning or, to be more accurate, food-borne illness, that might have been contracted at public facilities. The majority of reports were similar to the example given.

The last major outbreak of food-borne illness reported in the county was in 1991, when 60 children got sick at a private school. The low incidence should calm local residents who might be jittery after reading or hearing about the recent illnesses and deaths affecting more than 250 people in the Northwest and San Diego County and linked to Jack-in-the-Box hamburgers.

“The statistics we have indicate the average person eats out 3 to 3 1/2 times a week. If you consider the overall population of Ventura County, 125 reports is not a lot,” said Robert Williamson, manager of the environmental health department’s community services section, which is responsible for the inspections. “But I believe the number is underreported. There are a lot of people who don’t report, attributing it to the flu or something like that.”

Williamson’s office divides the county into 12 districts, with one inspector per district. When a complaint comes in, an inspector goes in search of the cause. Causes are often hard to find with isolated incidents and, according to Williamson, by the time an inspector receives a complaint and then gets to the eating establishment, the suspected food or beverage often is gone.

Though the exact cause may be difficult to determine, the culprit is generally bacteria, as is the case with the Jack-in-the-Box burgers. The most common forms of bacteria responsible for food-borne illness in public facilities come under the microorganism classifications of staphylococcus and salmonella.

“Staphylococcus is true food poisoning where bacteria multiply and produce a poison,” said Linda Dahl, director of nutrition services at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. “Once a toxin is there in great enough quantity you are going to get sick.”

Salmonella, on the other hand, does not produce a toxin. “You actually get sick from the bacteria themselves,” said Dahl. “The bacteria actually have to reproduce and be present in great enough quantity to make you sick.”

Bacteria falls under the category of biological contamination, along with viruses, parasites and mold (or fungus). There are also physical contaminants (glass, hair, some other foreign matter in the food) and chemical contaminants (pesticides, copper, lead). But neither of the latter forms is as prevalent as biological contamination.

“You aren’t going to find any foods in a completely sterile state, with no bacteria at all,” said Williamson. “Reduction or elimination of levels of bacteria is the best we can do.”

Williamson said the key factors in cutting down on bacteria are the temperature at which a food is cooked, stored and prepared and the length of time it is kept at that temperature.

“In the case of Jack-in-the-Box, the hamburgers were not being adequately cooked,” he said. “Hot foods should be cooked and maintained at temperatures of 145 degrees or higher. Things that need to be kept cold, like salad dressings, should be kept at 45 degrees or lower. Between 45 degrees and 145 degrees, the growth rate of bacteria increases significantly.”

If local inspectors find food at between 100 and 120 degrees, Williamson said, they demand that it be thrown away. The federal standard for the cooking of hot food is 140 degrees.

The time element comes into play during both the cooking and storage of the food. The longer a food is at an inappropriate temperature, the greater the chance of bacteria growth. Williamson said the maximum time for either hot or cold food to be at an inappropriate temperature would be three hours.

As has been illustrated with the Jack-in-the-Box incidents, food-borne illness can be extremely serious, even deadly. Different immune systems react differently to bacteria, but Dahl said children and the elderly are particularly susceptible.

Regardless of the age of the person, Dahl said that if symptoms are there, they should be dealt with. The trick, sometimes, is distinguishing symptoms of food-borne illness from those of the flu.

“Staph symptoms appear much more rapidly than with salmonella. With staphylococcus they come within two to eight hours of eating the food,” said Dahl. Salmonella symptoms, she said, show up between 12 and 36 hours after eating. They can last up to seven days and are more severe.

“Rarely would somebody have to be hospitalized with food poisoning,” said Dahl. “But if they become dehydrated severely enough, there’s a chance they may have to be.”