Food Poisoning

Food poisoning occurs when you eat contaminated food. Contaminated means it’s infected with a toxic organism, like a bacterium, fungus, parasite or virus. Sometimes, the toxic byproducts of these organisms can cause food poisoning.

When you eat something toxic, your body reacts to purge the toxins. You may purge through vomiting, diarrhea or both. You may also develop a fever. The uncomfortable symptoms of food poisoning are your body’s way of working to return to health. It usually works in a day or two.

Who gets food poisoning?

Anyone can get food poisoning if they eat contaminated food, but some people are more likely to get sick from contamination than others. It depends on how much of the toxin they ingested and how concentrated it was.

Your overall health plays a role in your risk of getting food poisoning, too. Your immune system fends off infections all the time, and you don’t even know about it. Even with sanitary food handling practices, there’s usually a small amount of contamination in your food. It becomes “poisonous” when your immune system reaches its threshold.