Beliefs About Restaurant Meals

Key takeaways

Public health programs should teach the public about:

• Foodborne illnesses and how soon they can make people sick. People will then be better able to help outbreak investigators identify the food making people sick.
• How important it is to report it when you think you have a foodborne illness. It is vital to report suspected illnesses when more than one person gets sick from eating the same meal. The restaurant or health department needs to know so they can find, study, and stop foodborne illness outbreaks.

Why this is important

Foodborne illnesses are common, but many people do not know much about them. People need to know more so they can be protected from foodborne illness. We need to know what people know and believe about foodborne illness.

Foodborne illness often causes vomiting and diarrhea. Restaurants are one source of foodborne illness. This study looked at people who believed their vomiting and diarrhea were caused by food they ate at restaurants.

What we learned

People see foodborne illness as a minor sickness that can come from eating food in a restaurant. They think symptoms of foodborne illness occur soon after eating the food. This is not true for many common foodborne illnesses.

Most people do not tell health departments about sickness they think came from food eaten at a restaurant. Health departments use this information to investigate outbreaks.

Beliefs about what made people sick

• Almost one-quarter of people believed a restaurant meal caused their sickness.

• Those who believed their sickness was caused by a restaurant meal were more likely to have:
  • Been younger than 33 years of age
  • Had some college education
  • Eaten out in the week before the interview

• Those who had diarrhea but not vomiting and those who did not miss work because of illness were more likely to believe a meal in a restaurant caused their illness.
• People believed the restaurant meal caused their illness because:
  • Of timing (time between when they ate and when they got sick) (43%)
  • The meal looked or tasted bad or undercooked (16%)
  • Others who ate with them got sick (6%)

Timing

• Just over one-half (54%) of people who believed their illness was caused by a meal in a restaurant said it began within 5 hours of eating the meal.
• Those who said timing was why they thought a restaurant meal caused their sickness said they got sick in less time (6.6 hours) than those who did not believe this (9.1 hours).

Reporting illness to restaurant or health department

• Less than one-tenth (8%) of people who believed their illness was caused by a restaurant meal said they reported it.
• Those with vomiting and those who missed work because of their illness were more likely to report their illness.

More information

• Journal article this plain language summary is based on
• More practice summaries and investigation summaries in plain language
• Tips for dining out