Foodborne Disease
The most prevalent foodborne diseases are classified as food poisonings (FP) or food infections (FI); some diseases fall into both categories. Appendix 11 lists the microorganisms that cause these diseases.
Food poisoning, also called food intoxication, is disease that results from ingestion of foods containing preformed microbial toxins. The microorganisms that produced the toxins do not have to grow in the host and are often not alive at the time the contaminated food is consumed; the ingestion and action of a
bioactive toxin causes the illness.