Elderly persons are in need of good quality and safe food, so that they do not attract food borne diseases. With the growing age many of the body organs especially the digestive organs are not functioning that efficiently as in the young age and some of them are living with the pills caring for the diseases they are already suffering. They become more prone to diseases, so they need to take safe food devoid of bacterial infection. More over if they fall sick it requires longer time in their recovery. The information about safe food handling is of great help for their safety from diseases and good health.

Some of elderly persons due to their physical challenges remain in the house only due to their limited mobility and difficulty in moving out independently. More over elderly persons may be lacking good cooking experience or ability to self cook for themselves.

Pathogens present in food have highly different effect on elderly persons, in comparison to the young persons. Hence they need very simple freshly prepared food just to provide necessary nutrition and the taste does not matter much. There is necessity of practicing of safeguards, which are necessary for avoiding, food borne sickness in them. These ensure them good health.

As the age grows the elderly persons become less capable of combating bacteria of their own due to weakened immunity to diseases. Their stomach now does not secrete adequate acids, helpful in digestion as well as killing the bacteria in acidic environment. They require treatment, which may side effects also delaying the healing process and increasing the discomfort for them.

They suffer in their sensation of taste and smell and are not in a position to differentiate between well cooked mutton or under cooked mutton by smelling, similarly the milk, which may be sour they are not able to feel and just gulp it. When the food is spoilt initially it gives light foul smell, which may not be recognized causing ingestion of spoilt food having potential of causing food borne diseases in the elderly person.

In some of the Elderly persons, the fingers get disfigured and they can not wear gloves and wash the utensils at right temperature. They can not peel the fruits and vegetables. They find difficulty in opening or closing of the containers as a result of these factors there are chances of food contamination, if there is no one to their help and have higher chances of falling sick by eating contaminated food.

Food Borne Diseases Affecting Elderly Persons:

Food borne diseases are alternatively also called food poisoning, which has a very scaring is any illness that is caused by the food you eat. Safe food handling can help reduce your risk of getting sick from food. Many of the elderly persons suffer from malnourishment, increasing their incidence of getting infections from pathogens contained in the food. Often the elderly persons have financial constraints affecting food safety problems in them. They may be reluctant to discard food and eat and falling sick due to contaminated food. They're also much more prone to issues when consuming international food they're not used to.

They may not be in a position financially replacement of damaged cookware and managing with faulty cook ware resulting in deficiency in food cooking and the related risk to their food safety.

The Visible Signs of food Poisoning:

The signs noticed for food poisoning or food borne illness, are stomach upset, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. In case the disease takes a serious turn it can be fatal also. Depending on the severity of the disease one should consult the doctor or visit a hospital for hospitalized treatment.