Food poisoning

Cases of food poisoning are on the rise, with the most common culprit being poor food hygiene. There are simple ways you can prevent it.

Author: Dr Rob Hicks

What is it?

It's estimated there are more than 9 million cases of gastroenteritis each year in England. For an increasing number of people, it's due to food poisoning, something that's preventable.

Gastroenteritis describes symptoms affecting digestion, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain. Food poisoning is the type of gastroenteritis caused by eating or drinking something contaminated with micro-organisms or germs, or by toxic substances produced by these germs.

These illnesses are often accompanied by fever, muscle aches, shivering and feeling exhausted.

What Causes it?

1. In the food - the food isn't cooked thoroughly, so the micro-organisms aren't killed off, often the case with barbecued food.
2. On the food - the person preparing the food doesn't wash their hands before handling the food, for example.

Campylobacter infection is the most common cause of food poisoning seen by GPs. It likes to live in milk and poultry.

Other common causes include salmonella, listeria, shigella and clostridia. Some take a few hours to cause symptoms, others a few days. Serious infections with E.coli are, fortunately, uncommon.

How Can I prevent it?

• Always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food, after going to the toilet and after handling pets

• Keep kitchen work surfaces clean

• Make sure food is defrosted completely before cooking

• Keep pets away from food

• Ensure food is cooked thoroughly before eating. Meat shouldn't have any pink bits

• Serve reheated food piping hot

• Keep raw meat and fish covered and store at the bottom of the fridge

• Store all perishable foods at 5°C (41°F) or less

• Keep raw food covered up

• Rinse fruit and vegetables under running water before eating

• Throw away any food that's past its use-by date, doesn't smell right and/or has fungus on it

What's the treatment?

Most infections last 24 to 48 hours, during which time fluid is often lost from vomiting and diarrhoea. To prevent dehydration, drink plenty of cooled boiled water and use rehydration powders if the symptoms continue.

Sometimes antibiotic treatment is necessary; this can be determined by testing for the micro-organism responsible.

It's especially important anyone whose work involves handling or preparing food stays away from work while they have symptoms to avoid infecting others. They must also notify, and seek advice from, their local environmental health department.

If someone suspects that food bought from, or eaten in, a specific shop, takeaway or restaurant is responsible, they should also inform their local environmental health department, so food hygiene standards can be investigated.

This article was last medically reviewed by Dr Rob Hicks in December 2006.