Don't Let Food Poisoning Ruin Your Holiday

Nothing is better than a good old-fashioned holiday get together where you spend quality time together, share stories, and catch up on friends' and relatives' lives. Many families get together and celebrate such holidays as Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, Easter, and the Fourth of July. This usually results in a lot of fun, enjoyment, and happiness. However, things don't always go as planned. Sometimes a fight can break loose, or someone can get hurt, or a sickness can be caused. I have never experienced a fight breaking loose at my family outings, or anyone getting hurt during the festivities, and my own family has never gotten sick from any of the foods prepared. I do have one experience with one such case though.

A few years ago, in a nearby backyard, a good friend of mine didn't have such a good experience with a food he consumed at a Fourth of July cookout. Everything was going great all day. They were having fun, playing a few sports, talking about old times, and playing cards. After a few hours, my friend went out back to fish in the pond with a few other of his family member. This is where the story turns ugly. He began to feel nauseous and his stomach started really bothering him. He shrugged it off at first until it became worse and really started hurting. After he vomited the first time, he decided he better see what was going on.

Although he didn't want to go, he finally decided that he better play it safe and go to the emergency room. I am not quite sure exactly what they told him, but it turned out he had a relatively mild case of food poisoning. By the next day, he was feeling much better and tried to figure out what could have possibly been the cause of his sickness. After a little thought, he decided that there was a good chance it was the potato salad he ate that was sitting out in the sun a little too long.

So if you are planning on having a celebration with potato salad, macaroni salad, egg salad, or many other similar types of dishes, make sure you don't let them sit out in the sun for too long. It is a good idea to put some ice under them too, so they stay properly chilled while they are out in the hot weather. It is best to keep them refrigerated until right before the eating starts, and you should always put them right back into the refrigerator as soon as possible. It is always better to play it safe then to end up with a ruined day because of something that could have easily been prevented.