Last night me and Scott went to Outback Steakhouse. I had a couple of shrimp as appetizers,and half of a grilled chicken patty with my pasta. I really hate shrimp to begin with, and the chicken tasted a little off.I ate less than half my meal, trashed the rest. We walked out of the restaurant, and almost immediately I felt sick. It was all I could do to make it to the bathroom without hurling. I got most of it out, thought I was good to go. We sat through our movie, went home, and I crashed. 3:30 this morning, I woke up feeling nauseous again. Spent the next 3 hours puking. Needless to say, I’m not making it to work today. (Okay, so maybe this isnt an all bad thing…).
I only remember parts of the Food Safety class I’m certified in, but I thought food poisoning took 24 hours to set in. Are there any foodbourne illnesses that kick in imediately?
Probably the most common cause of rapid onset acute gastroenteritis is staphylococcal food poisoning. According to the Merck Manual website, “Onset is usually abrupt. Symptoms–characteristically severe nausea and vomiting–begin 2 to 8 h after eating food containing the toxin.” Outside of poisons, it’s hard to think of anything that would cause vomiting so soon after eating.
I had some narsty food poisoning a few years back. The ER doc told me that sometimes the food poisoning could set in very very quickly, and that sometimes it takes a day or so. Just depends on the food and the sensitivity of the individual.
He also told me that the so-called “24-hour flu” was most often actually food-poisoning.
If the posioning is due to intoxication - ingestion of toxic microbial proteins - onset can be very very quick. If it’s due to actual infection, it will take at least a day or so.