Food poisoning

Check if you have food poisoning

Symptoms of food poisoning include:

• feeling sick or being sick
• diarrhoea
• tummy pain
• a high temperature
• feeling generally unwell

The symptoms usually start within a few hours or a few days of eating food that caused the infection.

Sometimes symptoms do not start for a few weeks.

How to treat food poisoning yourself

If you or your child have food poisoning, you can usually treat it at home.

The symptoms usually get better within a week.

A pharmacist can help with food poisoning

How you get food poisoning

Food poisoning is caused by eating something that has been contaminated with germs.

This can happen if food is:

• not cooked or reheated thoroughly
• not stored correctly – for example, it's not been frozen or chilled
• left out for too long
• handled by someone who's ill or has not washed their hands
• eaten after its "use by" date

Any type of food can cause food poisoning.

Infections that cause food poisoning

Food poisoning is usually caused by:

• campylobacter bacteria – the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK
• salmonella bacteria
• E. coli bacteria
• norovirus (vomiting bug)

Find out more about food hygiene and avoiding food poisoning from the Food Standards Agency website.