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How To Report Your Food Poisoning Illness to Your
Local Public Health Department
The doctor is required in most cases to report confirmed communicable illnesses to the local or state department of public health. This includes food poisoning or food-borne illness microorganisms. If you go to the doctor with food-borne illness symptoms, he or she may very likely take a stool sample, urine sample and possibly blood tests. If the doctor, for whatever reason, does not report it or you do not go to the doctor and you suspect you are or had experienced food-borne illness symptoms, I strongly recommend contacting your local public health department to report it yourself.
It is estimated that less than 1 percent of food-borne illness cases are reported. This is unfortunate because the local public health inspector conducts routine inspections of a food facility 2 times a year on average and the public or consumers really can be a second set and a more frequent set of eyes. By reporting your illness, you may very likely be saving others (as well as yourself if you continue to patronize this facility) from experiencing a similar painful episode.
You can find the contact phone number for your Environmental Health Food Inspection Program in your local phone book either under the county or city government services pages, or online, or by calling information. Depending on the size of your local government, you may be switched around or have to call multiple numbers before you get to the right person that documents and investigates "suspected food poisoning cases".
Before making the call, have all the following information ready:
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Try to have a listing of your previous few meals in addition to telling them what food you believe made you ill. It's possible that you could be blaming your illness on the wrong meal.
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If you've been to a doctor or hospital, they may ask for the doctor's name and phone number who treated you.
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If the suspect food is a commercial product, have the container in hand so you can refer to the label while you're on the phone.
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Try to remember when and where you bought the product. The name and address of the store is needed.
OTHER STEPS TO TAKE
If you save any food, whether from a restaurant or prepackaged food from a market, it is prudent to seal the product in a plastic bag marked "Danger" and keep it refrigerated and out of reach of children.
If the food is from a restaurant, it is unlikely that the local agency will take or use that unless it is part of an outbreak—generally more than one or two people have come down with a similar illness from the same food or establishment.
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If the food is packaged and is something you purchased at the local market, the agency you want to call depends on the type of food. For meats, poultry, egg and milk products call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) or go their web site at www.fsis.usda.gov/home/index.asp For complaints about food products that do not contain meat or poultry, i.e. cereals, fish, produce, fruit, fruit juice, pastas, cheeses, etc., call or write to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Check your local phonebook under U.S. Government, Health and Human Services to find an FDA office in your area. The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition can be reached at 1-888-723-3366 or go their web site at: www.cfsan.fda.gov/ |
For reporting any violations you observed at a restaurant, catering truck, street vendor, market or other commercial food facility, be ready with the name and address or the facility, the date you observed the violation and give a brief explanation of what you observed. Also, be ready to give your name, address and phone number, which should remain confidential. By giving your contact information the inspector can contact you after the inspection or investigation has been made to let you know what was observed and what kind of action was taken.
One last, or first step, you can take is to report your illness into a national database registry that can help determine if your illness is part of a larger food poisoning outbreak. The web site that can do this as well as help refer your information to the local public health department is called the National Database of Food Poisoning. Click on this link to learn more.