Medical Terminology for Food Poisoning
The medical term for food poisoning is "foodborne illness" or "foodborne disease," though clinically it is most commonly referred to as acute gastroenteritis when presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms. 1, 2
Primary Medical Terminology
Foodborne illness is the formal medical and public health term used to describe illness caused by eating contaminated food 3, 4
Foodborne disease outbreak is the epidemiological term used when multiple cases are linked to a common food source 3
Acute gastroenteritis is the clinical syndrome term used when patients present with the characteristic symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain 1, 2
Specific Pathophysiologic Classifications
The medical literature distinguishes between two main mechanisms:
Foodborne infection occurs when pathogenic organisms multiply in the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion 4
Foodborne intoxication (or food intoxication) occurs when preformed bacterial toxins are ingested with contaminated food, causing rapid-onset symptoms within 1-4 hours 1, 5, 6
Important Clinical Distinction
Food poisoning should not be confused with food allergy or food intolerance, which are entirely different entities. 3
Food allergy is an immune-mediated (IgE) reaction to specific food proteins that occurs reproducibly on exposure 3
Food intolerance (such as lactose intolerance) is not immune-mediated and occurs due to metabolic, pharmacologic, or toxic properties of the food 3
These conditions require completely different diagnostic approaches and management strategies compared to infectious foodborne illness 3
Common Usage in Medical Documentation
In clinical practice, physicians typically document these cases as: