Food poisoning and food borne disease in food safety welcome

Food poisoning and food borne disease in food safety welcome

Food poisoning is an acute illness which usually occurs within 1 to 36 hours of eating contaminated or poisonous food. Symptoms normally last from 1 to 7 days and may include diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, nausea, fever, dehydration and prostration.

Food poisoning may be caused by:

• bacteria or their toxins;
• poisonous fish, including scombrotoxic fish poisoning;
• chemicals such as a insecticides, excessive additives and fungicides;
• metals such as lead, copper and mercury;
• poisonous plants such as deadly nightshade, toadstools and
• moulds (mycotoxins)

Bacteria are responsible for most food poisoning cases, with poisonous fish, plants, chemicals or metals occasionally causing problems. Mycotoxins rarely cause illness in the UK. Viral gastroenteritis is very common but is dealt with as a food borne disease: Viruses don’t multiply in food and only a few viruses are needed to cause illness.