Depending on the cause, you may start having symptoms hours to months after you eat contaminated food. The most common types of food poisoning cause symptoms in 30 minutes to 2 days. Some types of food poisoning by shellfish may take only a few minutes to cause symptoms. It usually takes about 1 to 5 days to recover fully from food poisoning.
Infants, young children, pregnant women, adults over age 65, and people with a chronic disease or weak immune system can become seriously ill from food poisoning. In such cases, it is especially important to contact a healthcare provider when food poisoning is suspected.