Quantitative panorama of a decade of cases of food intoxication in north of Brazil

Abstract

Diseases transmitted by food (DTFs) can be defined as those caused by external agents that enter the living being, by water or contaminated food. Food and water can be contaminated by toxins both in industrial processing and during human handling. The aim of this study was to compare data from fourteen years of food intoxication in the northern region of Brazil with the national data. The research was conducted in the database of FIOCRUZ Sinitox Sistem, between 2000 and 2013. Human food intoxication occurs in greater quantity in the urban area and the age group with the highest number of cases was between 20 and 29 years, and 30 and 39 years. In the northern region to the country the number of collective cases was higher than the individual cases, with the majority of cases of human intoxication occurring with the female gender. Perhaps if there was a higher rate of basic sanitation in the country and if there was a greater stimulus to teaching good practices to producers and ready-to-eat food handlers, a positive change in this scenario could be observed.