food poisoning: Meaning and Definition of

food' poi"soning

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. an acute gastrointestinal condition characterized by such symptoms as headache, fever, chills, abdominal and muscular pain, nausea, diarrhea, and prostration, caused by foods that are naturally toxic, as poisonous mushrooms, by vegetable foods that are chemically contaminated, as by insecticides, or by bacteria or their toxins, esp. of the genus Salmonella.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.