Supreme Pizza / Slice 5 of 6

Food poisoning after takeaway, and how to report it

Food poisoning symptoms usually begin a few hours to a few days after eating, so the last meal is not always the one to blame: the NSW Food Authority suggests thinking back over the 3 days before symptoms started. If you believe food you bought made you sick, you can report it to your state or territory food regulator or your local council.

General information, not medical advice. The official places to check are your doctor, NSW Health or your own state’s health department, and your state or territory food regulator.

Slice 5 · Food poisoning

The signs

What food poisoning usually looks like

The NSW Food Authority uses ‘food poisoning’ for any illness that comes from contaminated food or drink. The usual symptoms it lists are nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, headaches and fever, alone or together. They usually take between a few hours and a few days to begin, and may last a few days, depending on the cause.

Some people are more vulnerable. The Food Authority names pregnant women, people over 65 with certain underlying conditions, and people whose immune systems are weakened by illness or treatment. FSANZ says “Food poisoning can be particularly serious in children, the elderly, pregnant women and people who are immuno-compromised”, and that if you or someone in your care falls ill it is important to get medical attention early and to tell the doctor if you think the illness is related to food.

When to see a doctor

The Food Authority says most cases don’t need medical attention, but to contact a doctor if:

symptoms last more than 3 days or are very severe
you can’t keep fluids down for more than a day
you see blood or mucus when vomiting or in diarrhoea
the person who is sick could easily become dehydrated, as infants and older people can; for them, it says to see a doctor as early as possible.

While it lasts

NSW Health’s fact sheet on viral gastroenteritis, the stomach bug that can also come from contaminated food, sets out what to do if you have it, in this order:

stay at home and rest, and don’t go to work;
keep children away from childcare or school until 48 hours after their diarrhoea and vomiting have stopped;
until 48 hours after the diarrhoea or vomiting stops, don’t make food for other people or look after patients, children or elderly people, and that includes cooking at home as well as working with food;
after using the toilet, wash your hands well with soap and running water for 20 seconds;
drink plenty of clear fluids to stop yourself becoming dehydrated, such as water, or juice or soft drink watered down at 1 part to 4 parts water.

It says to avoid undiluted fruit juice and soft drinks, which may make dehydration and diarrhoea worse, and that rehydration drinks, which replace fluids and salts, are sold at chemists.

Was it the pizza?

Four things people assume

The Food Authority keeps a page of common assumptions about food poisoning. Four of them bear on the question everyone asks the morning after takeaway.

It must have been the last thing I ate.
Possibly, but not necessarily. Symptoms, especially vomiting, can start soon after eating contaminated food, yet the cause can also be food eaten well before. The Food Authority suggests considering everything eaten in the 3 days before symptoms first appeared.
The diarrhoea started within a few hours, so it was that meal.
Diarrhoea from contaminated food usually starts at least 4 to 6 hours after eating it, and can start as late as 3 days after. If it began less than 4 hours after a meal, that meal is unlikely to be the cause.
Whatever came back up is what made me sick.
Not always. What you bring up is just what was in your stomach when symptoms started; the food responsible may have been eaten a day or so before.
I was sick after eating, so it was food poisoning.
Food is one cause of gastro, not the only one. Contaminated water, including pools, and viruses passed from person to person can cause the same symptoms.

The Food Authority adds that identifying the cause is not always possible. That is one reason reports matter: the Food Authority says food poisoning reports are watched by a specialist team looking for patterns.

Before you report

What to keep, and what to write down

FSANZ’s first advice is not to eat any more of the food you are worried about. For a complaint about suspected food poisoning, the NSW Food Authority asks for:

a description of the problem, and the name and full street address of the business
the time and date the food was eaten, and what was eaten
the time and date the illness began, the symptoms and how severe they were
any leftover food, the packaging and the receipt, kept rather than thrown away.

Fridge, not freezer

For a food poisoning complaint, the Food Authority suggests keeping a food sample in a plastic bag in the fridge, and not freezing it. It asks you to hold the sample for up to 10 business days; if no investigator has been in touch within 10 days, you can throw it out. (For other complaints, and for a reaction to a food allergen, its advice is the freezer instead.)

The Food Authority says it does not give the personal details of people who complain to the food business involved, unless a court orders it. It also says it usually cannot share the progress or outcome of an investigation.

Who to tell

Who takes a food poisoning report, state by state

In Australia, food complaints are investigated by state and territory authorities or local councils, because each state and territory enforces the Food Standards Code. This is a summary of the contacts FSANZ lists for complaints about food bought from a business; its food regulatory agencies page has the full list, with phone numbers and email addresses.

A summary, not the complete list, from FSANZ’s food regulatory agencies page and, for NSW, the NSW Food Authority’s complaints page, read 8 October 2026.
State or territory	Who takes the report
New South Wales	Your local council for retail food businesses other than butchers and for food poisoning affecting one household; the NSW Food Authority for butchers, food allergens, food poisoning in more than one household, and other food safety and labelling issues.
Victoria	Your local council, asking for an Environmental Health Officer, for complaints about a food or food premises, including suspected food-borne illness. Safe Food Victoria if you don’t know where to start.
Queensland	Your local council, asking for an Environmental Health Officer, for food safety and hygiene in food premises; your closest Public Health Unit for suspected food-borne illness and undeclared allergens.
South Australia	Your local council, asking for an Environmental Health Officer, for complaints about food or food premises, including unsafe food, undeclared allergens and food poisoning.
Western Australia	Your local council, asking for an Environmental Health Officer or an authorised officer, for complaints about a food or food premises, including suspected food-borne illness.
Tasmania	Your local council, asking for an Environmental Health Officer, for complaints about food or food premises, including food poisoning; the Department of Health if you don’t know where to start.
Australian Capital Territory	The ACT Health Protection Service, for food safety and the regulation of food businesses.
Northern Territory	The Northern Territory Department of Health, for complaints about a food or food premises, including suspected food-borne illness.

Your doctor is part of this too

In Victoria, doctors and pathology services have to tell the health department straight away when they see two or more linked cases of illness suspected to come from food or water. In NSW, NSW Health says doctors and hospitals must notify their local public health unit when there are two or more linked cases of gastro. So telling your doctor that you think food was the cause can be how a pattern is noticed.