Glossary

Type: Bacteria
Quick Meaning: A bacteria which is naturally found in the digestive tract. Most strains are harmless but some can cause various diseases.
Source/Location: Digestive tract, meat, dairy products, raw fruits, and vegetables.
Impact/Use: Abdominal cramps, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, anaemia, and kidney failure.

Type: Bacteria
Quick Meaning: A bacteria found in soil and water. Contamination of vegetables is mainly due to contaminated soil or manure used as fertilizer.
Source/Location: Unprocessed vegetables, meat, and unpasteurized milk.
Impact/Use: Fever, muscle aches, nausea, diarrhea, convulsions, premature delivery, infection of newborn, stillbirth, and death.

Type: Bacteria
Quick Meaning: A bacteria which has been one of the most common causes of food poisoning. Salmonella infections can be transferred between animals and humans.
Source/Location: Undercooked poultry products, unpasteurized milk, fruits, and vegetables.
Impact/Use: Fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, typhoid, and paratyphoid fever.

Type: Bacteria
Quick Meaning: A bacteria which can cause diarrhea in humans and may easily infect other people through contamination of water and food. Consuming just a small amount of this bacteria may be enough to cause symptoms.
Source/Location: Salads, sandwiches, raw vegetables, and contaminated water.
Impact/Use: Abdominal cramp, fever, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

Type: Bacteria
Quick Meaning: A bacteria which can survive and grow at low temperatures (1-4°C). Infection can occur due to consumption of foods contaminated by infected urine or faeces.
Source/Location: Vegetables, dairy products, and meat.
Impact/Use: Fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, skin rash, and joint pains.

Type: Chemical
Quick Meaning: The most widely used herbicide in agriculture used to kill weeds that compete with certain crops.
Source/Location: Agricultural chemicals may remain on/in fruits or vegetables, usually at trace amounts.
Impact/Use: Certain studies have suggested that glyphosate may be teratogenic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic, genotoxic and have endocrine-disrupting effects.

Type: Chemical
Quick Meaning: Used as a basis of many pesticides due to its neurotoxic effects. Severity and symptoms of poisoning depend on the degree of exposure.
Source/Location: Agricultural chemicals may remain on/in fruits or vegetables, usually at trace amounts.
Impact/Use: Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, slow heart rate, diarrhea, blurred vision, seizures, and respiratory failures.

Type: Condition
Quick Meaning: A measure of how ripe a fruit is. In general, a ripe fruit will have increased sugar content, becomes softer, and loses its green color. However, there are different ripening characteristics, depending on the type of fruit. Assessment of ripeness can be done using the five human senses.
Source/Location: Ripeness applies only to fruits, which can be categorized further into climacteric and non-climacteric. Climacteric fruits will ripen after harvest, e.g. apple, bananas, and papaya. Non-climacteric fruits do not ripen after harvest, e.g. oranges, berries, and grapes.
Impact/Use: Ripeness is usually used as an indicator of the edibility of a particular fruit.