Food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, is a sickness people get from something they ate or drank. The causes are germs or other harmful things in the food or drink.
Symptoms of food poisoning often include upset stomach, loose stools and vomiting. Symptoms most often start within hours or days of eating the food.
Most people with food poisoning have mild illness and get better without treatment. But sometimes food poisoning causes serious illness or complications.
Symptoms of food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, vary depending on what causes the illness. They may begin within hours or weeks, depending on the cause.
Common symptoms are:
Less often, food poisoning affects the nervous system. Then symptoms may include:
Vomiting and loose stools can quickly cause low levels of body fluids, also called dehydration, in infants and children. This can cause serious illness in infants.
Call a healthcare professional if your child's symptoms include vomiting and loose stools and any of the following:
See a healthcare professional or get emergency care if you have:
Many germs or other harmful things in food or drink, called contaminants, can cause food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness. Food or drink that carries a contaminant is called contaminated. Food can be contaminated with any of the following:
Many people use the term "food poisoning" for all foodborne illnesses. But a healthcare professional might use the terms this way:
Food can be tainted at any point from the farm or fishery to the table. The problem can begin during growing, harvesting or catching, processing, storing, shipping, or making the food.
Anyone who handles food can taint it. The following can cause food to be tainted:
This table shows common causes of foodborne illnesses, the time from contact with the contaminant to the beginning of symptoms, and common sources of contamination.
| Disease cause | Timing of symptoms | Common sources |
|---|---|---|
| Bacillus cereus, a bacterium | 10 to 16 hours. | Foods such as rice, leftovers, sauces, soups, meats and others that have sat out at room temperature too long. |
| Campylobacter, a bacterium | 2 to 5 days. | Poultry that's raw or not cooked through, shellfish, tainted water and raw milk. |
| Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium | 18 to 36 hours. | For infants, honey or pacifiers dipped in honey. Home-preserved foods including canned foods, fermented fish, fermented beans and alcohol. Store-bought canned foods and oils that have herbs. |
| Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium | 6 to 24 hours. | Meats, poultry, stews and gravies. Most often, food that is not kept hot enough when served in large batches. Food left out at room temperature too long. |
| Escherichia coli, commonly called E. coli, a bacterium | Most often, 3 to 4 days. Sometimes, 1 to 10 days. | Meat that's raw or not cooked through, milk or juice that isn't treated, called unpasteurized. Soft cheeses made from milk that isn't pasteurized, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Tainted water. Stools of people with E. coli. |
| Giardia lamblia, a parasite | 7 to 10 days. | Food and water tainted with stools that carry the parasite. Food handlers who are carriers of the parasite. |
| Hepatitis A, a virus | 15 to 50 days. | Shellfish that's raw or not cooked through, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other food that isn't cooked. Food and water tainted with human stool. Food handlers who have hepatitis A. |
| Listeria, a bacterium | 9 to 48 hours for stomach issues. 2 to 6 weeks for body-wide issues. | Hot dogs, luncheon meats, milk that isn't treated, called unpasteurized. Soft cheeses from milk that isn't pasteurized, smoked fish, pates or meat spreads that are kept in a fridge, and fresh fruits and vegetables. |
| Norovirus, a virus | 12 to 48 hours. | Shellfish and fresh fruits and vegetables. Ready-to-eat foods, such as salads and sandwiches, touched by food handlers with the virus. Food or water tainted with vomit or stools of a person with the virus. |
| Rotavirus, a virus | 18 to 36 hours. | Food, water or objects such as faucet handles or utensils tainted with the virus. |
| Salmonella, a bacterium | 6 hours to 6 days. | Most often, poultry that's raw or not cooked through, eggs and dairy products made from raw milk. Other foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, nuts, nut products, and spices. |
| Shellfish poisoning, a toxin | Most often, 30 to 60 minutes, up to 24 hours. | Shellfish, including cooked shellfish, from coastal seawater tainted with toxins. |
| Shigella, a bacterium | 1 to 4 days. | Contact with a person who is sick. Food or water tainted with human stool. Often, ready-to-eat food handled by a food worker with shigella. |
| Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium | 30 minutes to 8 hours. | Meat, egg salad, potato salad or cream-filled pastries that have been left out too long or not kept in the fridge. Foods a person with the bacteria handles. |
| Vibrio, a bacterium | 12 to 24 hours. | Fish or shellfish that's raw or not cooked through, mainly oysters. Water tainted with sewage. Rice, millet, fresh fruits and vegetables. |
Swimming pools, lakes, ponds, rivers and seawater also can carry bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses. And animals who have some bacteria, such as E. coli, may spread the disease through contact with people.
Anyone can get food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness. Some people are more likely to get sick or have more-serious illness or complications. These people include:
Complications of food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, are not common for most healthy adults. Complications may include the following.
The most common complication is dehydration, a serious loss of water and salts and minerals. Both vomiting and loose stools can cause dehydration.
Most healthy adults can drink enough fluids to prevent dehydration. Children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems or other illnesses may not be able to replace the fluids they've lost. They are more likely to become dehydrated.
People who become dehydrated may need to get fluids directly into the bloodstream at the hospital. If not treated, serious dehydration can cause organ damage, other serious illness and death.
Some foodborne illness contaminants can cause widespread disease in the body, also called systemic disease or systemic infection. This is more common in people who are older, have weakened immune systems or have other medical conditions.
Systemic infections from foodborne bacteria may cause:
Illness from the listeria bacteria during pregnancy can result in:
Rare complications include conditions that may happen after food poisoning, including:
The following can help prevent food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, at home.
For people who are pregnant, young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, food poisoning may be life-threatening. These people should not eat the following foods:
A healthcare professional bases a diagnosis of food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, on a physical exam and a review of things that may be causing vomiting, loose stool or other symptoms. Your healthcare professional may ask about:
Your healthcare professional does an exam to rule out other causes of illness and check for signs of fluid loss, called dehydration.
You may have tests that include:
When a person or a family gets food poisoning, it's hard to know what food was tainted. It can take hours or days to get sick. During that time, the person or family may have had other meals. This makes it hard to find what food caused the illness.
In a large outbreak, public health officials may be able to find what food all those affected shared.
Treatment for food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, depends on how bad your symptoms are and what caused the illness. Most often, you don't need medicine.
Treatment may include the following:
Adults who have loose stools that aren't bloody and who have no fever may take loperamide (Imodium A-D) to treat diarrhea. They also may take bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol, Kaopectate, others) to treat an upset stomach. These are medicines you can get without a prescription. They are not for children.
For most people, symptoms of food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness, improve without treatment within 48 hours.
To help relieve symptoms and prevent fluid loss, called dehydration, focus on replacing lost fluids. Water, broth or drinks that contain minerals called rehydration solutions are options for helping to replace fluids. Talk with your healthcare professional before giving rehydration fluids to infants.
As you start to feel better, the suggestions on what to eat vary. Some people stop eating until their stomach feels better and they don’t feel like vomiting. Low fat foods like crackers, noodles, bananas, rice, boiled vegetables, soup or oats can be sampled to see if they stay down. While yogurt might be fine, other dairy products might cause an upset stomach.
Start by seeing your main healthcare professional for food poisoning, a type of foodborne illness. Sometimes, you may need to see a specialist in infectious diseases.
Be ready to answer the following questions.
