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Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
- Treated online: Yes, usually. Food poisoning is assessed by video, with a rehydration plan, anti-sickness medicine where vomiting blocks fluids, and stool tests or antibiotics arranged where guidelines support them; blood in the stool, high fever or dehydration signs need in-person care.
- What it is: infection or toxin from contaminated food: Campylobacter (undercooked poultry) and Salmonella (eggs, poultry) are the commonest bacteria in Europe, norovirus the commonest virus, with E. coli, Listeria, Clostridium perfringens and staphylococcal toxin behind the rest.
- Timing tells: symptoms within 1 to 6 hours of eating point to a ready-made toxin (reheated rice, cream cakes, cooked meat left warm); 6 hours to 3 days fits Salmonella, Campylobacter, norovirus or Clostridium; Listeria can take up to several weeks.
- How long: most food poisoning settles in 1 to 3 days and nearly all within 7; vomiting usually stops first, loose stools trail a few days longer, and not clearly improving after 48 hours, or diarrhoea beyond a week, is the point to be assessed.
- Antibiotics: rarely needed and sometimes harmful: they are reserved for confirmed Campylobacter, Salmonella or Shigella in severe or high-risk cases and avoided in E. coli O157, where they raise the risk of kidney complications.
- Emergency: call 112 if someone with food poisoning is confused, drowsy or too weak to drink, is vomiting blood, has a sudden severe headache or breathing difficulty, or shows signs of serious dehydration.
If there is blood in your stool, a high fever that will not settle, signs of serious dehydration (very little urine, dizziness that stops you standing, confusion), or severe abdominal pain that keeps worsening, arrange urgent in-person care rather than a video appointment. If someone is confused, drowsy or too weak to drink, call 112.
Can an online doctor treat food poisoning?
Yes, in most cases. Food poisoning usually settles on its own, and the treatment that matters is rehydration done properly, not medication. On Mobi Doctor, a licensed doctor assesses your symptoms and hydration by video, plans your recovery, and arranges stool tests or targeted prescriptions for the minority who need them. Bloody diarrhoea, high fever or severe dehydration needs in-person assessment.
The video format suits this illness for a blunt reason: when you are running to the toilet every half hour, the last place you want to sit is a waiting room, and the people already sitting there will not thank you for the company either.
Listen: How Long Does Food Poisoning Last
The audio version of this topic from the Mobi Doctor podcast. Open the episode.
How an online consultation helps with food poisoning
- A hydration plan that actually works: not just "drink plenty", but what to drink, how much, how often, and when oral rehydration salts beat water, matched to your age, medicines and kidney function.
- Spotting the cases that need more: the doctor screens for the specific pointers, blood in the stool, persistent high fever, recent travel, a vulnerable patient, that turn a wait-it-out illness into one needing tests or treatment.[2]
- Medicines reviewed while you are ill: a few common drugs (diuretics, blood-pressure tablets, metformin, anti-inflammatories) can harm you while you are losing fluid. The doctor tells you what to pause and when to restart.
- Clear rules for going back: when you are safe to return to work or school, and the stricter rules that apply if you handle food or care for vulnerable people.
What the doctor checks in an online food poisoning consultation
The consultation is a structured hunt for cause and risk, not a glance at your symptoms. The doctor will typically establish:
- The food timeline: what you ate in the last three days, how many hours passed before symptoms, and whether anyone who shared the meal is also ill. Two or more people ill after the same meal is one of the strongest pointers to a foodborne cause.
- The symptom pattern: vomiting-dominant or diarrhoea-dominant, any blood or mucus in the stool, fever, and how the illness is changing hour by hour.
- Hydration on camera: how much you are drinking and keeping down, how often you pass urine and how dark it is, dizziness on standing, dry mouth and tongue.
- Who you are: pregnancy, age over 65, young children in the household, immune-suppressing medicines or conditions, kidney disease. Risk changes the plan more than symptoms do.
- Your regular medicines: which ones to pause during heavy fluid loss, and whether an acid-suppressing medicine is relevant, since strong acid suppression can make gut infections easier to catch.[2]
- Travel and occupation: recent travel outside Europe changes the likely organisms and lowers the threshold for stool testing; working as a food handler, carer or healthcare worker changes the return-to-work rules.
- Red flags: blood in the stool, high persistent fever, severe localised abdominal pain, confusion, and inability to keep any fluid down.
What causes food poisoning?
Food poisoning is illness caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or the toxins they produce. The World Health Organization estimates around 600 million people fall ill from contaminated food every year worldwide.[1] In Europe, campylobacter and salmonella are the most commonly reported bacterial causes, typically from undercooked poultry, eggs, unpasteurised dairy and cross-contaminated kitchen surfaces.[3][6]
Why the timing tells a story
How fast you became ill narrows the culprit. Symptoms within one to six hours of eating point to ready-made toxins, classically in rice left warm too long or cream dishes left out. Illness starting six hours to three days after a suspect meal fits salmonella or campylobacter. Some organisms, including the E. coli strains that cause bloody diarrhoea, take several days to declare themselves, which is why the doctor asks about the last three days of meals rather than the last one.
Foods that earn their reputation
Undercooked chicken and barbecue food, raw or lightly cooked eggs, reheated rice, raw shellfish, unpasteurised milk and cheese, and anything kept lukewarm for hours are the repeat offenders. In pregnancy, soft mould-ripened cheeses and chilled ready-to-eat foods carry a specific listeria risk, which is why the doctor treats food poisoning symptoms in pregnancy with extra care.
How do I know it is food poisoning and not a stomach bug?
You often cannot tell from symptoms alone, because the illness looks identical: vomiting, diarrhoea, cramps, sometimes fever. Food poisoning is suspected when symptoms follow a suspect meal, when several people who shared food fall ill together, or after high-risk foods. A stomach bug caught from another person, most often norovirus, spreads through contact rather than cooking.
The distinction matters less for treatment, which is hydration either way, and more for everything around it: whether an outbreak should be reported, whether others who ate the same food need warning, and how you stop it spreading at home. The person-to-person version is covered on the gastroenteritis page, and if your main symptom is loose stools without much vomiting, the diarrhoea page walks through that presentation. If you suspect a restaurant or shop-bought food, note what and where you ate: your national food-safety authority takes reports, and clusters are how outbreaks get caught.[4]
When do stool tests and antibiotics actually matter?
Rarely, and that is worth saying plainly. Most food poisoning is self-limiting, testing changes nothing for a typical case that is already improving, and antibiotics are only prescribed when there are signs of bacterial infection where treatment genuinely helps; they do nothing for viral causes, and unnecessary courses fuel antibiotic resistance.[2] Guidelines reserve both tests and treatment for specific pictures.
A stool test earns its place when there is blood or mucus in the stool, a high or persistent fever, symptoms lasting beyond about a week, recent travel outside Europe, a severely unwell or immunosuppressed patient, or a suspected outbreak where public health needs the organism identified.[2] Antibiotics are considered when a stool result identifies an organism worth treating or the clinical picture is severe in a vulnerable patient. There is also a hard caution: in bloody diarrhoea that could be caused by toxin-producing E. coli, antibiotics and anti-diarrhoeal tablets can increase the risk of a serious kidney complication, particularly in children, which is exactly why "something to stop it" is not automatically the right prescription.[2] The honest service is a doctor who tests and treats the right minority, and tells the majority they do not need either.
Is my food poisoning suitable for online care?
Most cases are, and the exceptions are predictable. This is the decision framework the doctors use, aligned with the cited guidance.
Swipe sideways to compare →
| Presentation | Likely first step | Suitable for online care? | When referral or in-person care is needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vomiting and diarrhoea after a suspect meal, otherwise healthy adult | Hydration-first plan, symptom control, safety-netting | Usually yes | If fluids will not stay down or symptoms last beyond about a week |
| Blood in the stool, or fever that stays high | Assessment plus stool testing pathway[2] | For triage and organising tests | In-person review if unwell, worsening or dehydrated |
| Recent travel outside Europe | Assessment with a lower threshold for stool tests | Usually yes, to organise the work-up | Severe illness, or a positive result needing supervised treatment |
| Pregnant, over 65, young child, or immunosuppressed | Early review, careful hydration plan, low testing threshold | Often yes, seen promptly | Any dehydration signs, listeria concern in pregnancy, or deterioration |
| Confusion, almost no urine, too weak to drink, severe worsening pain | Emergency care | No | Call 112 immediately |
Not sure which row is you? A doctor can tell you in one consultation.
See available times →Treatment options for food poisoning
What you can do yourself: hydration first
Rehydration is the treatment, so do it deliberately. Sip small amounts often rather than gulping, which triggers vomiting; a few sips every five to ten minutes adds up faster than it feels. Oral rehydration salts from any pharmacy replace the sugar and salts that water alone does not, and are the standard of care for significant fluid loss, particularly in children and older adults.[4] Judge progress by your urine: pale and regular means you are winning. Eat when appetite returns, starting bland and small; there is no need to starve yourself, and no evidence that fasting shortens the illness.[5]
Pharmacy options, used carefully
Loperamide can reduce diarrhoea in adults who need to function, but it should not be used when there is blood in the stool or high fever, and it is not for young children. Paracetamol handles the aches and fever. Skip anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen while you are dehydrated, because they stress the kidneys exactly when the kidneys are most vulnerable.
Prescription treatment
A prescription is never issued without a consultation. Where assessment supports it, the doctor can prescribe an anti-sickness medicine so fluids stay down, arrange a stool test with treatment matched to the result, and in specific severe or high-risk cases prescribe antibiotics in line with the stewardship principles above.
Special situations
Food handlers, carers and healthcare workers
If your work involves preparing food, or caring for patients, children or elderly people, do not return until at least 48 hours after your last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea; that exclusion window is the standard infection-control rule across Europe, and it applies even when you feel recovered sooner.[2] Certain confirmed infections carry additional occupational rules, which local public-health teams direct; the doctor tells you if your situation is one of them.
Children and older adults
Small bodies dehydrate fast, and older bodies hide it well. A child who is drowsy, has sunken eyes, dry nappies or no tears needs urgent in-person assessment, not a wait. In older adults, confusion or new unsteadiness may be the loudest sign of dehydration, and regular medicines (diuretics, blood-pressure tablets, metformin) often need pausing until eating and drinking recover.
After travel
Food poisoning that starts during or shortly after travel outside Europe raises organisms that home cooking rarely serves, including parasites that cause prolonged symptoms. Tell the doctor where you were and when symptoms started; it lowers the threshold for stool testing and shapes what the lab is asked to look for.[2]
How do I prevent food poisoning?
Most cases trace back to a handful of habits, and the fixes are straightforward: keep raw meat and its juices away from everything ready to eat, cook poultry and minced meat all the way through, refrigerate leftovers within two hours and reheat them thoroughly once only, and wash hands before cooking and after handling raw meat.[1] When travelling where water safety is uncertain, the old rule still earns its keep: boil it, cook it, peel it, or leave it.
When food poisoning is treated online, and when you need in-person care
Treated online: typical food poisoning in adults who are managing to drink; medicine reviews and pausing plans during the illness; anti-sickness treatment where assessment supports it; organising stool tests for travel-related, prolonged or outbreak-linked cases; and return-to-work advice, including the stricter food-handler rules.
In-person care: blood in the stool or persistent high fever needing examination and testing in person; anyone who cannot keep fluids down despite anti-sickness treatment; children with dehydration signs; pregnant patients with fever or suspected listeria exposure; suspected severe complications, including the kidney complication of bloody diarrhoea in children; and severe localised abdominal pain, which may not be food poisoning at all, as the abdominal pain page explains. In those cases the consultation gets you to the right care quickly, with a full refund if your doctor decides you need to be seen in person.
When to get in-person care
Go to urgent care today if there is blood in your stool, a fever that stays high, almost no urine, or symptoms still worsening after 48 hours. Call 112 immediately if someone is confused, unrousable or too weak to drink, has a rigid abdomen with severe pain, or a child is limp, dry and cannot be woken properly.
Treating food poisoning at home: what helps and what does not
Most food poisoning is home-treatable and short: small frequent sips of fluid, oral rehydration sachets from the pharmacy, rest, and plain food reintroduced as appetite returns, with recovery over two to five days. Anti-diarrhoea tablets are best avoided early, since the body is clearing the cause.
What home care cannot do: it cannot replace lost fluids once dehydration takes hold, and it cannot treat the causes that need more. Blood in the stool, a high or persistent fever, symptoms beyond a week, signs of dehydration such as dizziness and scant dark urine, recent travel to higher-risk regions, or a weakened immune system all mean a doctor should look at what is actually going on.
Staying at home is the point of Mobi Doctor: you can see a licensed doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes, with no waiting room. If medication is the right answer, the prescription follows. Book a video consultation: the exact price is shown before you pay.
How long does food poisoning last?
Most food poisoning lasts one to three days. Norovirus-type illness typically settles within 48 hours; salmonella and campylobacter can run four to seven days; and tiredness plus a delicate stomach often trail a few days behind the main illness.
When the timeline breaks: symptoms beyond a week, blood in the stool, a high persistent fever, severe pain, or signs of dehydration such as dizziness and scant dark urine mean a doctor should look, and recent travel makes that conversation more important, not less.
Is food poisoning contagious?
Often, yes. The food caused your illness, but many of the bugs behind it, norovirus above all, pass easily from person to person through hands, surfaces and shared bathrooms while you are ill.
The 48-hour rule: stay home until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea. That rule is strict for food handlers, carers and healthcare workers, and a doctor can confirm the timing for your job in one call.
Protecting your household: separate towels, hard bathroom hygiene, and hand washing with soap, since alcohol gel is weak against norovirus.
How Mobi Doctor works
- Book a time that suits you: open daily 7am–11pm CET. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, exact price up front.
- Speak to a licensed doctor about food poisoning: a private video call: you describe what you feel, the doctor asks what matters, and you agree the right plan together.
- Get your recovery plan and safety-net advice: everything agreed before you hang up: your plan, and a prescription to use at a pharmacy near you where medication is clinically right for you. If your doctor decides you need to be seen in person, you get a full refund.
No sign-up needed
Not sure it’s food poisoning? Tick every symptom you have to see each condition page that mentions it. It finds the right page, not a diagnosis: a doctor gives you that on a video call.
Tap the body — an area or a point — to browse symptoms anywhere
Similar symptoms, different condition? Norovirus can start the same way. Compare them, or look up any other symptom in the full symptom checker.
Frequently asked questions about food poisoning
What is food poisoning, and what causes it?
Food poisoning is illness caused by eating food or drink contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or the toxins they produce. The commonest causes in Europe are Campylobacter from undercooked poultry, Salmonella from eggs, poultry and cross-contaminated salads, norovirus from an infected food handler or shellfish, E. coli from undercooked beef or unwashed vegetables, Listeria from soft cheeses and chilled ready-to-eat foods, and toxins made by bacteria in food left warm.
What are the symptoms of food poisoning?
Food poisoning causes nausea, vomiting, watery diarrhoea, cramping abdominal pain, and often fever, chills, aching and loss of appetite, starting hours to days after the meal. Toxin-type food poisoning brings sudden violent vomiting within hours; Campylobacter and Salmonella bring diarrhoea with fever and cramps after a day or more; bloody diarrhoea, high fever or severe pain mark the cases that need assessment.
Can an online doctor prescribe treatment for food poisoning in Europe?
Yes, after a video assessment, where treatment is needed: anti-sickness medicine to keep fluids down, a plan for pausing or adjusting medicines such as diuretics or metformin while you are ill, and antibiotics only in the specific cases guidelines support, usually after a stool test. Most food poisoning needs rehydration rather than prescriptions, and a prescription is never issued without a consultation.
How long does food poisoning last?
Most food poisoning settles within one to three days, and nearly all within a week. Vomiting usually stops first; loose stools can trail on a few days longer, and tiredness for a week after that. See a doctor if you are not clearly improving after 48 hours, if vomiting lasts more than two days, if diarrhoea lasts more than a week, or if blood, high fever or dehydration appear sooner.
Should I take anti-diarrhoea tablets for food poisoning?
Sometimes: loperamide can help an otherwise healthy adult with food poisoning who must function, but avoid it if there is blood in your stool, a high fever or severe cramps, because slowing the gut can prolong some bacterial infections, and never give it to young children. Oral rehydration solution does more for recovery than any tablet, and when in doubt the doctor says which group you are in.
When can I go back to work after food poisoning?
Wait until 48 hours after your last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea. That rule applies to everyone with food poisoning, and it is applied strictly if you handle food, work in healthcare or care for vulnerable people, because you can still pass the infection on while feeling better; some employers require a negative stool test for food handlers after Salmonella or E. coli.
How do I know if it was the food or a virus going around?
Often you cannot be certain. A suspect meal, high-risk foods such as undercooked chicken, raw eggs, shellfish or reheated rice, or several people ill after eating together point to food poisoning. Illness spreading person to person through a household or workplace over days points to a virus such as norovirus. The treatment is the same either way; the distinction matters for reporting and prevention.
What should I eat and drink with food poisoning?
Sip oral rehydration solution or diluted squash often while vomiting and diarrhoea last, then eat bland starchy food such as rice, toast, crackers, bananas and plain potatoes as soon as you feel able; small meals keep better than big ones. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, milk and fatty or spicy food for a few days, and go back to a normal diet as the food poisoning settles rather than fasting.
What can I do at home for food poisoning?
At home, rest, drink small amounts often, use oral rehydration solution after every loose stool or vomit, take paracetamol for fever and aches, keep to your own towel and wash hands with soap after the toilet and before food, clean toilets and surfaces with bleach-based cleaner, throw away the suspect food, and note what you ate and when, which helps the doctor and any investigation of the food poisoning.
How can I prevent food poisoning?
Prevent food poisoning with the four Cs: cleaning (hands, boards and surfaces, especially after raw meat), cooking (poultry, minced meat and reheated food piping hot throughout), chilling (fridge below 5 degrees, leftovers cooled and refrigerated within two hours, eaten within two days), and avoiding cross-contamination (raw meat covered at the bottom of the fridge, separate boards). Wash fruit and vegetables, respect use-by dates, and be careful with buffets abroad.
Is food poisoning dangerous in pregnancy or for older people?
In pregnancy, most food poisoning is unpleasant rather than dangerous, but Listeria, from soft cheeses, pate, chilled ready-to-eat foods and unpasteurised milk, can harm the baby even when the mother has only mild flu-like symptoms, so fever in pregnancy after such foods needs prompt testing. Older people dehydrate faster, and Salmonella and E. coli can cause severe illness, so the threshold for in-person review is lower.
Should I report food poisoning?
If you believe a restaurant, takeaway or shop-bought food caused your food poisoning, especially if others are ill, report it to the local environmental health or food safety authority, which can investigate and stop an outbreak; laboratory-confirmed infections such as Salmonella and E. coli are notified by the laboratory automatically in most European countries. Keep receipts and the packaging where you can.
- Food safety fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 2024.
- Gastroenteritis: Clinical Knowledge Summary, NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2023.
- Salmonellosis, ECDC, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2024.
- Diarrhoeal disease fact sheet, WHO, World Health Organization, 2024.
- Food poisoning: symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatments, HSE, Health Service Executive Ireland, 2025.
- Campylobacteriosis, ECDC, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2025.
- Food poisoning, NHS, National Health Service (UK), reviewed December 2024.
This page is for information only and is not a substitute for a medical consultation. Guideline links are provided for transparency; treatment decisions are made with your doctor.
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