A Food borne illness is any illness caused by consuming foods or beverages contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms, hazardous chemicals or physical hazards. A food borne disease outbreak is when two or more people have the same illness after eating the same food. The food service industry regularly experiences tremendous financial losses due to food borne illness. Such losses can be significantly reduced, however, through knowledge and education.

Food borne illness and outbreaks are associated with such behaviors as poor personal hygiene, time and temperature abuse and cross contamination. These topics will be discussed in a later section. A food handler must report to their employer if they are diagnosed with,exposed to or exhibiting symptoms from Norovirus, hepatitis A virus, Salmonella typhi, Shigella spp. or shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli.

When a food handler becomes ill, proper precautions must be taken. To ensurethe safety of the consumers, the manager of the establishment will either restrict or exclude the ill food handler. Restriction is when a food handler(who does not serve highly susceptible populations) is allowed to work in the food establishment but is not allowed to perform tasks that would cause contamination of food or utensils. Exclusion is when a food handler is not permitted to work in a food establishment until they provide a written release from the proper authority.