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Home  >   Environment and Health  >   Food Safety  >   Food-borne illness  >   Food-borne illness
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Food-borne illness

Summary

Information about what you should do if you suspect you have food poisoning.

Cases of food-borne illness in the District which have been diagnosed following submission of a specimen to a GP or in hospital are automatically notified to the Food and Safety Regulation Team. Officers will normally then contact and/or arrange to visit the sufferer to ask them some questions about their illness, what they have eaten and so on. The aims of the investigation are to try and determine the source of the infection and also to prevent the spread of the infection to others.

What to do if you think you have a food-borne illness

If you think that you are ill because of something you have eaten, you should normally contact your GP in the first instance who may ask you to submit a specimen which can be analysed for the various organisms that cause food-borne illness. If you still have some of the suspect food, then this should be placed in a sealed plastic bag in a refrigerator or freezer, well away from other foodstuffs.

Submission of a specimen is the only way to diagnose food-borne illness as the symptoms are often similar to other causes of stomach upsets that are not connected with food in any way. Furthermore, stomach upsets can occur within a group of people without food being involved. At first sight this can look very much like food poisoning but may be just a virus passed on from person to person.

Confirmed cases of food-borne illness

Investigations will therefore only normally be carried out for cases which have been confirmed as food-borne disease. When you contact Environmental Health, it is a good idea to work out beforehand what you had to eat for at least three days before you became ill so that you are ready to be asked about your dietary history. This is because it can take several days (up to eleven in some cases) from eating a contaminated foodstuff before you have any symptoms. Consequently, officers will need to know as much as possible about what you had to eat, but do not worry if you cannot remember everything.

Related pages on this website ...

External links ...

Food Standards Agency
Eat well
The Food Standards Agency's consumer advice and information site, packed with reliable and practical advice about healthy eating, understanding food labels and how what we eat can affect our health.
Eatwell website
Food Standards Agency
Food Standards Agency
The Food Standards Agency is an independent Government department set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food.
Food Standards Agency website

About links to external sites.

Contact us ...

Team:
Food & Safety
Web:
online enquiry form
Email:
food.safety@babergh.gov.uk
Telephone:
01473 825890
Minicom/textphone:
01473 825878
Fax:
01473 825738
Address:
Babergh District Council
Corks Lane
Hadleigh
IPSWICH
IP7 6SJ

If you need information in large print, audio cassette, braille, translation (written or verbal) or signed interpretation, let us know when you contact us. About our translation services.

Last updated on: 19 August 2011 | Date of next review: 19 August 2012


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