Foodborne illness

Foodborne illness or food poisoning is caused by consuming food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, toxins, viruses, prions or parasites. Such contamination usually arises from improper handling, preparation or storage of food. Foodborne illness can also be caused by adding pesticides or medicines to food, or by accidentally consuming naturally poisonous substances like poisonous mushrooms or reef fish. Contact between food and pests, especially flies, rodents and cockroaches, is a further cause of contamination of food.

Outbreaks

The vast majority of reported cases of foodborne illness occur as individual or sporadic cases. In most cases these originate, and occur, in the home. An outbreak occurs when two or more people suffer foodborne illness after consuming food from a contaminated batch.

Related Topics:
Home - Batch

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Often, a combination of events contributes to an outbreak, for example, food might be left at room temperature for many hours, allowing bacteria to multiply which is compounded by inadequate cooking which results in a failure to kill the dangerously elevated bacterial levels.

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Outbreaks are usually identified when those affected know each other. However, some are identified by public health staff from unexpected increases in laboratory results for certain strains of bacteria.

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