Foodborne disease is illness cause by consuming contaminated food or beverages. There are many a variety of foodborne infections caused by many different disease -- causing microbes, or pathogens that can contaminate food. Poisonous chemicals, or other harmful substance can also cause foodborne disease if they are present in foods.
There are more than 250 different foodborne diseases that have been identified. Most of them are caused by a different types of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can be foodborne. In 1999 CDC reported 76 million gastrointestinal illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in United States. (FDA(Science),2001)
There is no one “syndrome” that is foodborne illness. These different diseases have many different symptoms. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea are common symptoms in many foodborne diseases, because, microbe and toxin enters the body through gastrointestinal tract, and often causes the first symptoms there.