How to Treat Food Poisoning

Food poisoning occurs when you eat contaminated or toxic food, or food that contains natural toxins. Painful symptoms usually go away within a few days, once the poison has been eliminated from the body. However, you also need to take some steps to make yourself more comfortable and speed up your recovery. In severe cases, you need to go to the hospital immediately.

Table of Contents

Determine Action To Do

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Find out what causes food poisoning. Before dealing with food poisoning symptoms, it’s important to find the “culprit”. You need to remember what foods you ate in the last 4-36 hours. Have you tried new foods? Is there anything that smells bad? Do you share food with a friend or loved one who is also experiencing symptoms of poisoning? Here are the possible causes of food poisoning:

Food contaminated with Ecpi, salmonella, and other bacteria. Bacteria die off when food is properly cooked and handled, so food poisoning is often caused by undercooked meat or food that isn’t properly refrigerated. ^{[1] X Research Source}
Poisonous fish, such as puffer fish, are also the “culprits” of food poisoning. Pufferfish should not be eaten unless prepared in a restaurant that has a license to use puffer fish. ^{[2] X Research Source}
Toxic forest mushrooms, which look similar to common mushrooms, can also cause food poisoning.

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Go to the hospital immediately if necessary. Food poisoning caused by bacteria, especially when attacking otherwise healthy people, can often be treated at home. However, depending on the cause of food poisoning and the age of the person who has it, it is essential to seek medical attention immediately, before treating food poisoning symptoms. ^{[3] X Research Source} See a doctor immediately if any of the following occur:

People with food poisoning eat fish or poisonous mushrooms.
People with food poisoning are infants or young children.
The person with food poisoning is pregnant.
People with food poisoning over 65 years old.
People with food poisoning are experiencing serious symptoms, such as shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting, or vomiting blood.

Overcome Food Poisoning Symptoms

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Limit hard foods. Food poisoning causes vomiting and diarrhea, two natural functions of the body that remove toxins from the body. Eating hard foods will cause more vomiting and diarrhea, so it’s best to avoid heavy meals until you feel better.

Obviously you should avoid eating foods that cause botulism. If you are not sure of the cause, then avoid food that is not properly prepared before loading.
If you don’t like broths and soups, you can use simple foods that won’t upset your stomach like bananas, white rice or dry bread.

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Drink a lot of water. Vomiting and diarrhea lead to dehydration, so you need to drink water and other beverages to avoid dehydration. Adults should drink at least 16 glasses of water a day. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Herbal teas, especially mint teas, have stomach-soothing properties. You should drink mint tea to hydrate the body and control nausea.
Ginger beer or lemon soda also helps with rehydration, and the carbonation has a stabilizing effect on the stomach. ^{[5] X Research Sources}
Avoid coffee, alcohol, and other liquids that cause more dehydration.

Food Poisoning Prevention

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Wash hands, dishes and kitchen surfaces clean. Food poisoning is usually caused by bacteria infecting food through hands, dishes, cutting boards, utensils or kitchen surfaces that are not thoroughly cleaned. You need to take the following measures to prevent food poisoning from happening:

Wash hands with warm, soapy water before preparing food.
Wash dishes and utensils with warm, soapy water after use.
Clean counters, countertops, cutting boards and other surfaces in the kitchen with detergent after preparing meals, especially including raw meat.

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Store food properly. You need to separate raw foods, such as chicken or beef, from foods that are not cooked to prevent cross-contamination. Meat and milk should be refrigerated immediately after being brought back from the market. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Cook meat. You need to cook meat until it reaches an internal temperature that can kill bacteria to prevent food poisoning caused by bacteria. You need to know what temperature the meat is cooked to, and use a thermometer to check the temperature before you finish cooking. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Chicken and other poultry should be cooked to 75 degrees Celsius.
Ground beef should be cooked to 70 degrees Celsius.
Beef steaks and roasts should be cooked to 60 degrees Celsius.
Pork should be cooked to 70 degrees Celsius.
Fish should be cooked to 60 degrees Celsius.

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Do not eat wild mushrooms. Consuming wild mushrooms has become a trend in recent years, but unless instructed by an expert in choosing mushrooms, you should avoid picking and eating them. Even scientists have difficulty distinguishing between edible and poisonous mushrooms without biological testing.

Advice

Do not eat food stored in the refrigerator for too long. You can throw it away if you feel unsafe!
Suck on ice water or juice to help curb nausea and keep your body hydrated.
Don’t eat out too much.

Steps

Determine Action To Do

Overcome Food Poisoning Symptoms

Food Poisoning Prevention

Advice

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