Food poisoning is a common illness. Improper handling may lead to mild symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and general weakness, while severe cases can result in shock or even death caused by vomiting. What should we do when food poisoning occurs? What preventive and therapeutic measures should be taken?

Common Causes of Food Poisoning

• Cross-contamination between raw and cooked food

• Improper food storage leading to spoilage

• Food contamination by infected food handlers

• Insufficient reheating of long-stored food before consumption

• Ingestion of raw food without heat treatment

• Presence of natural toxic substances incompletely removed during food processing, such as undercooked hyacinth beans

• Contamination of food by chemical toxicants during processing, for example, mistakenly using nitrite as table salt

• Chemical contamination of edible agricultural products during planting, breeding or growth, such as excessive pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables

• Intake of inherently toxic food including poisonous mushrooms, sprouted potatoes and pufferfish

How to Identify Food Poisoning

Four major criteria are available to confirm food poisoning: numerous patients develop identical symptoms within a short period; all sufferers share the same food intake history; people who did not consume the suspect food remain unaffected; poisoning symptoms subside once the implicated food supply is cut off.

Symptoms usually onset 4 to 10 hours after meals, peaking around 6 hours post-ingestion. The initial manifestation is abdominal discomfort, starting with abdominal distension, followed by abdominal pain in many patients and acute diarrhea in some cases. Nausea accompanies abdominal distress and will progress to vomiting.

Food poisoning falls into four categories: bacterial (e.g. Escherichia coli), chemical (e.g. pesticides), animal and plant-derived (e.g. pufferfish, hyacinth beans) and fungal (e.g. toxic mushrooms). It may strike isolated individuals or groups. Core symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea, often accompanied by fever. Severe vomiting and diarrhea can cause dehydration, acidosis, and even shock or coma.

First Aid Measures for Food Poisoning

Once anyone develops vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or other signs of food poisoning, stop eating the suspicious food immediately and dial 120 for emergency assistance. The following self-rescue measures can be administered before the ambulance arrives:

Induce Vomiting

For patients who have just been poisoned without obvious vomiting, stimulate the root of the tongue with fingers or chopsticks to trigger vomiting, or ask the patient to drink plenty of warm boiled water and vomit repeatedly to reduce toxin absorption. After vomiting fluid turns clear following warm water lavage, moderate milk may be given to protect the gastric mucosa. Cease vomiting induction if blood is detected in vomit, which indicates possible hemorrhage of the digestive tract or pharynx.

Purge

If more than two hours have passed since ingestion of toxic food and the patient remains alert, laxatives can be administered to expel toxic residues. Decocted rhubarb or senna leaves brewed with boiling water can achieve purgation.

Preserve Food Samples

Identifying the toxic agent is critical for treatment. Keep samples of the contaminated food for laboratory testing at the hospital after poisoning. If food samples are unavailable, retain the patient’s vomit and excreta to facilitate diagnosis and targeted treatment by medical staff.