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How to Protect Yourself from Food Poisoning

Food poisoning usually resolves within a few days without severe symptoms (Pexels)
Food poisoning usually resolves within a few days without severe symptoms (Pexels)
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How to Protect Yourself from Food Poisoning

Food poisoning usually resolves within a few days without severe symptoms (Pexels)
Food poisoning usually resolves within a few days without severe symptoms (Pexels)

Many people around the world suffer from food poisoning, a condition that occurs after consuming contaminated food or beverages.

Symptoms of food poisoning may appear in some people immediately after eating contaminated food, while others may not experience them until several days later.

Food poisoning usually resolves within a few days without severe or long-lasting symptoms. Treatment focuses on drinking enough fluids and reducing symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. Prevention strategies, such as eating well-cooked and properly stored food, can reduce the risk of food poisoning.

Symptoms of Food Poisoning

The symptoms of food poisoning are very similar to those of viral gastroenteritis. Symptoms may disappear in as little as 24 hours or last for up to a week.

According to the Health website, symptoms of food poisoning include:

Diarrhea

Fever

Nausea

Stomach cramps

Vomiting

Symptoms in infants and children include:

Changes in mental state, such as increased nervousness

Lack of energy

Diarrhea that lasts more than 24 hours

Frequent loose stools or vomiting

Some symptoms of food poisoning are more severe and require medical attention. These symptoms include:

Blood in the stool

Diarrhea that lasts more than three days

Symptoms of dehydration, such as severe dry mouth, little or no urination, and dizziness

A high fever above 39 degrees Celsius

Persistent vomiting that prevents you from drinking fluids

Causes

Food poisoning most often results from eating food or beverages contaminated with bacteria, viruses, or parasites. The cause can be determined by knowing what you ate or drank and how quickly symptoms appeared.

Potential causes of food poisoning include:

Escherichia coli (E. coli): A bacterium that causes symptoms about three to four days after eating raw or undercooked ground beef, vegetables, or sprouts. Unpasteurized milk is another possible source of E. coli.

Salmonella: A bacterium that causes symptoms from six hours to six days after eating raw fruits or vegetables, or raw or undercooked meat or eggs. Unpasteurized milk is another possible source of Salmonella.

Staphylococcus aureus: A bacterium that causes symptoms 30 minutes to eight hours after consuming food that was handled improperly, such as sliced meats or sandwiches.

Vibrio: A bacterium that causes symptoms within 24 hours, usually from eating raw or undercooked shellfish.

Norovirus: A virus that causes symptoms 12 to 48 hours after touching contaminated cooking surfaces or eating contaminated green leafy vegetables, fruits, or shellfish. Norovirus may also cause intestinal infections.

Food poisoning can also occur from exposure to:

Parasites such as protozoa, nematodes, and tapeworms

Mold or toxins

Food allergies that trigger the immune system to respond after eating certain foods, including nuts, eggs, fish, wheat, and soybeans

Ways to Prevent Food Poisoning

Food poisoning cannot always be prevented, but you can reduce the risk by following food safety recommendations:

Wash your hands frequently while preparing and handling food.

Sanitize and wash cooking surfaces regularly.

Use separate surfaces for preparing raw meats.

Wash fruits and vegetables before eating, cutting, or cooking them.

Use a food thermometer to ensure food is cooked to the proper internal temperature. For example, cook meat to an internal temperature of at least 60 degrees Celsius or higher, depending on the type of meat.

Refrigerate perishable foods within two hours of cooking them, and store them in airtight containers when necessary to limit bacterial growth.

If the outside temperature is above 32 degrees Celsius, do not leave foods that may spoil unrefrigerated for more than one hour (for example, during a picnic).

When traveling, always drink bottled or treated water to reduce the risk of traveler’s diarrhea, a condition that may occur when traveling to places with untreated water sources.

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Varieties

North Korea and China to Resume Passenger Train Service After Six-Year Gap

A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
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North Korea and China to Resume Passenger Train Service After Six-Year Gap

A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters from a train believed to be carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it arrives in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025. (Reuters)

South ‌Korea's Unification Ministry said on Tuesday that passenger train services between Pyongyang and Beijing are set to resume this week, marking the end of a six-year suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resumption restores a critical transport link between North Korea and its primary economic ally, after ‌years of ‌strict border closures that began ‌in ⁠early 2020.

China's state ⁠railway told the Yonhap News Agency that the Pyongyang–Beijing train will begin the round-trip service on March 12, operating four times a week.

Only the last two carriages will ⁠initially carry passengers, mainly diplomats or ‌others on ‌official business, with ticket sales to the general ‌public possible if seats are ‌available, Yonhap quoted a railway official as saying.

North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for ‌Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organizing trips ⁠to ⁠the country.

Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said.

Tour organizers said on Monday that North Korea had cancelled next month's Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.

Varieties

Former Fukushima Worker Devotes Life to Abandoned Pets

This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
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Former Fukushima Worker Devotes Life to Abandoned Pets

This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2026 shows former nuclear plant worker Toru Akama playing with a cat during an interview with AFP at his animal shelter in Namie, Fukushima prefecture. (AFP)

Not far from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site, former plant worker Toru Akama tends to dozens of pets abandoned after the catastrophe 15 years ago, work he sees as part of his quest for redemption.

Meows and barks break the silence of the countryside, once an evacuation zone, as the 63-year-old brings food to the animals left behind when their owners fled the triple disaster of March 11, 2011: earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident.

"It's because of this plant, where we worked for years, that these animals ended up like this," Akama told AFP at his home in northern Japan, surrounded by cats.

"They should have been able to go on living their lives as pets, but because of this accident they were abandoned.

"I felt it was my duty to protect them," he said.

Akama will never forget what he saw in the wake of the disaster, caused by Japan's strongest earthquake on record.

The tsunami it unleashed killed or left missing 18,500 people, and a wall of water crashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant on the northeast coast causing a devastating meltdown.

A day later, residents were ordered to evacuate and an unbroken line of cars formed on the national highway that runs past Akama's house.

"Then the dogs started wandering in search of something to eat -- least those that weren't chained up," he recalled.

"There was no one left, just my wife and me handing out food."

-'Outrage'-

Akama then began taking the animals into his home: first 40 dogs, then 50.

A decade and a half later, he has found adoptive families for more than 1,000 animals and continues to take in new pets who have been abandoned for other reasons.

He says he has "felt outrage" at the pet owners, who have sometimes left their animals in front of his house.

Some "are remorseful, but others simply do it because the animals have become a nuisance", he said.

In difficult moments, "of course... people's priority is human beings, but animals are living beings too, members of the family. It's as if people were abandoning their own children".

After the nuclear disaster, some residents had to flee by bus, and animals were not allowed aboard.

"There were elderly people in tears, asking if someone could take their pet," he recalled.

A month after the disaster Akama also had to leave, but he returned every day for his work at the plant and to look after his charges.

"Because they had known hunger, I absolutely wanted to give them a good life. Sometimes we went without ourselves in order to buy them quality food," he said.

-They 'watch over me'-

Over the past 15 years, Akama says he has spent almost all of the compensation he received after the plant accident on the animals, and he continues to cover most of their care and food costs.

"I don't have time to deal with collections or crowdfunding campaigns," he explained, although he has received some donations.

Akama's days are structured around cleaning the cages where new arrivals spend their first days, feeding, walking the dogs, and taking in new residents, leaving him little respite.

"It never stops. To be honest, I feel like my old job was easier," he said.

"But thanks to them I've never fallen ill: they force me to stay active. Maybe it's their way of thanking me, of watching over me in their own way."

At first, he kept the ashes of the deceased animals in his house, but he eventually had to build a grave outside to hold the remains of around 30 dogs and even more cats, beneath the inscription "rest in peace".

Akama's brother took over his subcontracting business for the plant, allowing him to devote himself full time to the 47 cats and seven dogs with whom he currently shares his life.

"If I'm still able to keep going today, it's because I carry within me the distress these animals experienced. That's what keeps me going."

He would nevertheless like to find a successor.

"That's my biggest concern right now, because I too am starting to get older," he said.

"But I'd like to keep going like this until the end."

Varieties

February Fifth Warmest on Record, Extreme Rain in Europe, Says EU Monitor

The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
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February Fifth Warmest on Record, Extreme Rain in Europe, Says EU Monitor

The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)
The sun rises over Panama Bay in Panama City on March 7, 2026. (AFP)

The world logged its fifth hottest February on record, with western Europe drenched by extreme rainfall and widespread flooding, the European Union's climate monitor said on Tuesday.

Global temperatures last month were 1.49C above pre-industrial times, defined as the 1850-1900 period before large-scale fossil fuel use drove climate change.

Temperatures and precipitation varied widely in Europe.

The average temperature in Europe was among the three coldest in the past 14 years at -0.07C.

But western, southern and southeast Europe experienced above-average temperatures, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Colder conditions were experienced in northwest Russia, Baltic countries, Finland and its Scandinavian neighbors.

"Wet and dry conditions across the continent showed a pronounced contrast: much of western and southern Europe was wetter than average, whereas the rest of the continent... was mostly drier than average," the service said in its monthly report.

The United States, northeast Canada, the Middle East, Central Asia and east Antarctica had warmer-than-average temperatures.

- Need for global action -

Sea surface temperatures were the second highest for the month of February.

In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent was at its third lowest level for the month at five percent below average.

In the Antarctic, the monthly sea ice extent was close to average for February -- a "sharp contrast to the much below-average" levels observed over the past four years, Copernicus said.

"The extreme events of February 2026 highlight the growing impacts of climate change and the pressing need for global action," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.

"Europe experienced stark temperature contrasts," Burgess said.

"Exceptional atmospheric rivers -- narrow bands of very moist air -- brought record rainfall and widespread flooding to western and southern Europe," she said.

Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco between January and February, according to the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of climate scientists.