My daughter ate undercooked chicken. What can happen?
I get home and I see the stupid babysitter fed my TWO YEAR OLD daughter undercooked chicken from Swiss Chalet. The chicken was extremely pink and purple. She ate almost the entire thing. What should I do??? Right now I'm on hold with a nurse's hotline, but i've been on hold for 20 minutes.
Other - Health - 4 Answers
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1 :
a food borne illness at worst.
2 :
food poisoning. take her to the hospital
3 :
troll detected.
4 :
1, relax. Your daughter may get a small bout of food poisoning via the salmonella bacteria. The one thing about salmonella is that the more severe the problem with the food, the faster the symptoms show up. Salmonella isn't all that serious in most cases. It has an incubation period of 24 hours and usually passes within a few hours. If the food was badly affected by salmonella, the symptoms will show up faster and may be harder to shake. The biggest serious health risk with salmonella poisoning is dehydration due to prolonged bouts of vomiting (a day or more). Google a recipe for Oral Rehydration Therapy such as is used to combat diarrhea and vomiting common to cholera. It's a very simple recipe and you probably won't need it. Don't force feed it! Now you *may* have increased your risk for other food borne illnesses like E coli or staphylococcus or Hep A, but these are *MUCH* less likely. Remember, they have to actually be present before they can grow out of control. And the conditions usually have to be just right for that to happen. Chances are, if the chicken was cooked properly on the outside - and it probably was - the only thing that will remain is only what the chicken was carrying and was not killed on the inside. And that is probably just your basic salmonella. The vast majority of food borne illnesses are on the OUTSIDE portions of the food. Cooking is the last line of defense against things that can make you sick in the food, but it's not the only thing and most big chain restaurants get most of the other stuff right most of the time. To be honest, my guess is that she will feel a bit 'funny' after around 24 hours, but probably won't even throw up. It may be an old wives tale, but my mother always swore by giving a bunch of vinegar after eating something questionable. It can definitely help if the stomach is overwhelmed by a large quantity of food and is having a bit of difficulty putting enough acid out to kill all the baddies in the food. I used to dilute it 50/50 with water or apple juice and take a quarter cup. It seemed to do the trick for people in our family. #2 It's definitely worth it to take the remainder of the meal down to the swiss chalet and _calmly_ inform them that you feel that this food was improperly cooked. You will most likely be offered a free meal in return. DO NOT TAKE IT right away. Ask if you can come to pick it up after a few days just to make sure that the child is OK. If the manager is properly educated, this will not be a problem. If there is a real problem later on, you may be restricted as to your legal options if you take that. If you are really concerned (and I wouldn't be), take a picture of the food as it is with lots of light to make sure that you can see the important bits. Store the food in the fridge covered (so it can be tested later for contamination). #3 relax. the odds are very, very, unlikely that anything serious will happen from this incident. Some people eat improperly prepared food for most of their lives. PS. Do NOT take her to the hospital. If she has no symptoms, they will do nothing and you will have wasted your trip (and money). Food poisoning needs 24 hours to incubate. It can happen faster or slower, but it's not very common. If she gets sick before 24 hours are up, it was probably a different meal.
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