What is food poisoning?
Q: What is food poisoning?
A: Food poisoning is a condition that occurs when someone gets sick from eating food or drink that is contaminated or has gone bad.
Q: How many types of food poisoning are there?
A: There are two types of food poisoning: poisoning by toxic agent and poisoning by infectious agent.
Q: What is food infection?
A: Food infection is when the food contains bacteria or other microbes which infect the body after it is eaten.
Q: What is food intoxication?
A: Food intoxication is when the food contains toxins, including bacterially produced exotoxins, which can happen even when the microbe that produced the toxin is no longer present or able to cause infection.
Q: What causes food poisoning?
A: Food poisoning is commonly caused by a variety of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, prions or parasites that contaminate food, rather than chemical or natural toxins which are what we usually call poison.
Q: How many people in the United States become ill from the food they eat each year?
A: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 76 million people in the United States become ill from the food they eat each year.
Q: How many people die each year due to food poisoning in the United States?
A: About 5,000 people die each year due to food poisoning in the United States.
