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If you believe that you are suffering from food poisoning you should go to your doctor and explain your concerns.
If you work in a food business you must inform your manager or supervisor immediately. If you are not a food handler but work with vulnerable groups such as elderly or young people you should let your manager or supervisor know of your concerns.
Symptoms of food poisoning
Symptoms of food poisoning are:
- headache
- feeling sick (tummy pains)
- nausea (wanting to be sick but cannot)
- vomiting
- diarrhoea
Dorset Council food safety teams
Dorset Council food safety teams routinely investigate cases of food poisoning which are notified to us from the Public Health England. This is normally as a result of people contacting their GP. Many of these investigations are carried out over the phone but more severe infections are usually dealt with by a visit to the patient.
We have two aims:
- to try to identify the source of the infection
- to prevent the spread of any such infection either in the household, social contacts or through workplace activity (food handlers, nursing and care staff pose the highest risk of contamination)
What to do if you think you have food poisoning
If you suspect that you are suffering from an infectious disease including food poisoning, you should consult your GP and you may be asked to provide a specimen for diagnostic purposes.
You can also contact us if you think you have caught food poisoning. As with all matters of a medical nature, your personal details and any information you provide will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.
Please remember that it is not necessarily the last meal consumed which is the source of infection - some infections have an incubation period of several days and sometimes more. Just because other unaffected persons may have consumed similar foods does not mean that those foods are not the source of infection - people have varying degrees of susceptibility. Also remember that food contaminated with food poisoning bacteria will appear and taste perfectly normal.