Scenario 1:
After enjoying a delicious dinner of lasagna, Martha cleaned up the kitchen and left the covered tray of leftover lasagna on the counter to cool. Since the lasagna was so dense and thick, it took about 4 hours for it to feel cool enough to go into the fridge for the night. The next day, Martha served leftover lasagna for lunch. She heated the lasagna thoroughly and it was finished.
Within about 2-3 hours, everyone who ate the lasagna developed stomach cramps, fever, and nausea. Most of them eventually started vomiting. The illness was pretty awful, but thankfully relatively short-lived.
- Write 50- 150 words responses to each of the following questions. Be clear and concise, use complete sentences, and explain your answers using specific examples.
- How could this illness have been prevented?
- Based on the incubation period and symptoms of the illness, what is the most likely microorganism responsible for this illness?
- Describe the temperature danger zone.
- How could Martha have sped up the cooling process of the lasagna?
- If the leftover lasagna was thoroughly reheated, (which it was), how did it still lead to food-borne illness?
Scenario 2:
Sally was making marinated shish-kabobs to grill for dinner. She made a beautiful marinade and then cut up the raw chicken on a cutting board. She put the chunks of chicken in the marinade and let it sit on the counter for about three hours until it was time to cook.
While the chicken was marinating, Sally prepared the vegetables. She cut them using the same cutting board and knife. She rinsed both the cutting board and knife off with warm water between cutting the chicken and the vegetables.
Once the chicken had marinated, Sally put the chicken and vegetables on skewers to be grilled. She also started rice in the rice cooker to go with the shish-kabobs. As the shish-kabobs were grilling, Sally put the marinade in a serving dish for extra sauce to put over the rice.
Several hours later, Sally and her family members all developed nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, and abdominal pain.
- Write 50- 150 words responses to each of the following questions. Be clear and concise, use complete sentences, and explain your answers using specific examples.
- What could be the cause of Sally and her family members' illness?
- How could this illness have been prevented?