The most common cause of food borne diseases is food prepared too early and not stored at the correct temperature. Bacteria grow best between 5-63 °C.

Most non-spore forming bacteria are killed at temperatures of 70 °C.Bacteria do not grow, or grow only slowly below 5 °C. Some bacteria die at very low temperatures, but many survive and begin to multiply if warm conditions return

Food poisoning bacteria can be dangerous and can kill, although in most cases they cause an illness that eventually goes away.

The symptoms of food poisoning can last for days and include abdominal pains, diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea and fever. The symptoms often come on suddenly, but can also occur days after eating contaminated food, making it difficult to identify the source.

Food poisoning bacteria are very hard to detect; they do not usually affect the taste or smell of the food.

Young children, the elderly, the sick and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to food borne diseases.