Food poisoning

Causes of food poisoning

Often people have signs of food poisoning they suspect it was their last meal and will be sure that this is the cause, this is not always the case.

Food poisoning bacteria take quite a long time to reproduce inside the human gut and some people are more resistant than others so it may be some time before there are enough to cause illness. Very often it can be something eaten one, two or up to ten days before symptoms start.

Some food poisoning symptoms can appear more quickly. This is usually caused by poison or toxin which some bacteria make. If there is a lot of this in the food when eaten the stomach is likely to react quite quickly by vomiting to try to remove the poison. This can happen within a few hours of eating the affected food.

Certain food may cause allergic reactions with similar symptoms to food poisoning. You can suddenly develop allergies to food you have always eaten.

For further information about food poisoning see the NHS website

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