So you should now know that bacteria are microscopic forms of life. Although they cannot be seen by the naked eye, we cannot escape them. They are all around us and found in and on the bodies of all animals, including human beings, as well as in soil, air, water and most other matter found on earth.
Helpful Bacteria
There are many thousands of different types of bacteria, although you will be pleased to know that you only need to know about a few! We shall be concentrating on those bacteria that contaminate food and make people ill but it is important to realise that most bacteria are harmless. Indeed, many are actually very useful and we would find it difficult to live without them.
Can you think of any things that helpful bacteria do for us?
There are a number of very important things that helpful bacteria do, such as:
Spoilage Bacteria
So having looked at the helpful bacteria, the next group we need to consider are the spoilage bacteria. Spoilage bacteria are "bacteria that make food rot, spoil or decay". In other words, they make food go "off". They are a serious nuisance in the food industry and are responsible for the loss and destruction of tonnes of food each year. However, it is important to know that most spoilage bacteria do not make people ill and are not a cause of food poisoning. If you think about it, if we were only made ill by smelly, decomposing food there would not be over 100,000 notified cases of food poisoning a year. Most people would not choose to eat rotting food. So food poisoning is not caused by spoilage bacteria - how much easier it would be to prevent it if it was!