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Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Food Safety & Hygiene

Foodborne illness

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

/ˈfuːdbɔːrn ˈɪlnəs/nounCommon term

In culinary arts & cooking, foodborne illness means: Any illness caused by eating food or drink contaminated with harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or toxins. In everyday English it is usually called food poisoning.

In Turkish: gıda kaynaklı hastalık, gıda zehirlenmesi

How it is used

Used in food safety training, inspections and regulations. Common causes discussed in training include Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria and norovirus. Kitchens prevent it through temperature control, hygiene and avoiding cross-contamination.

Example sentences

  1. Most cases of foodborne illness come from poor temperature control or dirty hands.

  2. Any staff member with vomiting must stay home to prevent a foodborne illness outbreak.

Common collocations

  • foodborne illness outbreak
  • prevent foodborne illness
  • food poisoning
  • risk of foodborne illness
  • danger zoneThe range of temperatures, roughly 5°C to 60°C (41°F to 140°F), in which harmful bacteria grow fastest. Exact limits differ slightly between countries.
  • cross-contaminationThe spread of harmful bacteria or allergens from one food, surface, tool or person to another, for example from raw meat to a salad.
  • HACCPHazard Analysis and Critical Control Points: a food safety system that identifies the points where food could become unsafe and sets checks and limits to control them.
  • use-by dateThe date on a food label after which the food should not be eaten, cooked or served for safety reasons, even if it looks and smells fine.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Food Safety & Hygiene

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