Food poisoning in New York City
Is food poisoning going around in New York City?
Food poisoning, or foodborne illness, comes from eating food or drink contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella, Listeria and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, with viruses such as norovirus, or with parasites. Symptoms can start within hours or take days to appear, which makes it hard to pin down the meal that caused it.
In a city with tens of thousands of restaurants and food carts, a cluster of reports around one block can be the first sign of a problem.
Know the signs
Food poisoning symptoms
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea, sometimes bloody
- Stomach cramps
- Fever and chills
- Signs of dehydration: dizziness, dry mouth, very little urine
How it spreads
Most cases come from contaminated food or water, but some germs, including norovirus and Shigella, pass easily from person to person through unwashed hands and shared surfaces.
The local picture
Food poisoning in the five boroughs
Community reports are the fastest signal HealthNarc has. Several people reporting vomiting and diarrhea in the same neighborhood within a few days can show up on the map long before an official investigation.
HealthNarc also imports the CDC's weekly provisional counts of reportable enteric infections for New York City, including salmonellosis, shigellosis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and campylobacteriosis. The live figure on this page is the citywide official count.
If you believe a restaurant or food vendor in New York City made you sick, report it to 311. NYC Health uses those complaints to spot and investigate outbreaks.
What to do
Most food poisoning passes within a day or two with rest and fluids. Seek care for bloody diarrhea, a fever above 102°F, vomiting that keeps you from holding down liquids, symptoms lasting more than three days, or signs of dehydration, particularly in young children, pregnant people and older adults.
Where the data comes from
Sources for Food poisoning data
The live figure above is the citywide count from the official feed HealthNarc imports (NYC Health or the CDC’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System) for the latest four published weeks, compared with the four weeks before. Where no official feed exists, it falls back to community reports from the last 28 days. For exposure notices and guidance, use these sources:
In the news
Food poisoning headlines
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Headlines link to their publishers. HealthNarc does not verify or endorse outside reporting.
Common questions
Food poisoning in NYC: questions people ask
- How soon after eating does food poisoning start?
- It depends on the germ. Toxin-producing bacteria such as Staphylococcus can cause symptoms within hours, norovirus usually takes 12 to 48 hours, Salmonella 6 hours to 6 days, and E. coli O157 typically 3 to 4 days.
- Should I report suspected food poisoning in NYC?
- Yes. Call 311 or use the 311 website or app to report a restaurant or vendor. Reports help NYC Health identify outbreaks that individual cases would never reveal.
- Is a stomach bug the same as food poisoning?
- Not always. Viral gastroenteritis ("stomach flu", often norovirus) spreads person to person and causes the same vomiting and diarrhea. Community reports on HealthNarc capture both, which is useful when you just want to know whether something is going around.
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