Symptoms of food poisoning
Symptoms of food poisoning include:
- feeling sick or being sick
- diarrhoea
- tummy pain
- a high temperature
- feeling generally unwell
The symptoms usually start within a few hours or a few days of eating food that caused the infection.
Sometimes symptoms do not start for a few weeks.
How to treat food poisoning yourself
If you or your child have food poisoning, you can usually treat it at home.
The symptoms usually get better within a week.
A pharmacist can help with food poisoning
How you get food poisoning
Food poisoning is caused by eating something that has been contaminated with germs.
This can happen if food is:
- not cooked or reheated thoroughly
- not stored correctly – for example, it's not been frozen or chilled
- left out for too long
- handled by someone who's ill or has not washed their hands
- eaten after its "use by" date
Any type of food can cause food poisoning.
Find out more about food hygiene and avoiding food poisoning from the Food Standards Agency website.
Page last reviewed: 19 December 2024
Next review due: 19 December 2027