For most cases of food poisoning, symptoms tend to come on within one to three days of eating the contaminated food. However, for some types of food poisoning, this 'incubation period' can be as long as 90 days.
Food poisoning results when you eat food contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens such as parasites or viruses. Your symptoms may range from upset stomach to diarrhea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and dehydration. Most such infections go undiagnosed and unreported.
Food poisoning has become a way of life for those that enjoy the taste of new types of food. The good chances of getting indigestion does not prevent them from searching for exotic restaurants where they can devour large quantities of strange and delicious food. Until severe food poisoning occurs and a hospital stay is had, the experimental eater will continue playing roulette with new types of food.
These can vary, depending on the cause but most common symptoms are vomiting„ abdominal pain and diarrhea. However symptoms may also include fevers and chills, be as non descript as weakness and exhaustion. or as tangible as bloody stools, dehydration and muscle aches.
In most cases, food poisoning is a one-off thing. Someone left the meat out of the fridge for too long. The food was contaminated during processing. One of the ingredients went bad, and was added to the dish unnoticed.
There are many causes for food spoilage, but they are usually not consistent. In other words, don’t expect that since you got food poisoning from the left-overs last week, that you will get sick every time you eat left-overs.
