Media release

From: Food Safety Information Council

In the lead up to Australian Food Safety Week 8 to 15 November 2025, the Food Safety Information Council has released a national survey that shows 66% of Australians surveyed recall experiencing some form of food poisoning or gastro and 51% of those incorrectly blame the last thing they ate.

Lydia Buchtmann, the Council’s CEO, said that the focus of this year’s Australian Food Safety Week was busting some of the myths around food poisoning or gastro.

‘One of the most common myths is that it was the last thing you ate that gave you food poisoning when in fact it could have been something you may have eaten many  days or even months ago,’ Ms Buchtmann said.

‘In the past, health authorities have had to rely on interviewing people to get them to remember what they had eaten so they could identify what made them sick. Luckily, these days we have new technologies that assist us in connecting victims with foods. Social media posts are helping to quickly identify potential outbreaks. Whole genome sequencing can trace unique DNA patterns of the viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites that cause foodborne disease that can then be compared among infected people and a suspected food source, if it is available. If the same DNA is found in the food, and the people who have become ill, it suggests a common source of the problem that can then be eliminated, including removal of implicated foods from retail sales.

‘Here are some more food safety myths that we will be covering during Australian Food Safety Week:

• Hand sanitiser is better than handwashing: hand sanitiser is great if handwashing facilities are not available but remember that sanitiser does not work on a range of pathogens, including highly contagious viruses like Norovirus which is only removed from your hands with handwashing with soap and running water and then drying thoroughly on a clean towel.
• If you drop food on the floor, it is okay to eat it for if it is picked up within 5 seconds: No – bacteria don’t politely wait 5 seconds to contaminate food dropped on the floor. Don’t eat dropped food as your floor will be contaminated from dirty shoes, by pets walking through and general day-to-day life.
• You need to throw out food after its “best before” date: “Best before” is only an indicator of quality and food can still be eaten safely after that date, but you should use (or freeze) food by its “use by” date.
• Hamburgers can be served rare: Always cook minced meat products such as hamburgers and sausages until they reach 75°C inside because bacteria on the outside of pieces of meat can be transferred throughout the meat when it is minced.
• You can tell if food is contaminated because it smells or tastes ‘off’. No – you can get food poisoning from food that smells and tastes great. Bacteria can grow quickly in food that has been left in the temperature danger zone, nominally between 5°C and 65°C) with no change in the smell or appearance of the food. When food smells “off” it is usually due to spoilage bacteria growing that probably won’t make you sick (but still best not to eat it. They’re more likely to change the taste and appearance of the food
• It’s okay to cut mould from food: No – even if there is only a small amount of mould, some moulds make and release poisons, called mycotoxins, into the food that could, over time, make you very sick.

‘You can learn more about food safety and test your knowledge and take the food safety myth quiz on the Food Safety Information Council website www.foodsafety.asn.au ,’ Ms Buchtmann concluded.

We would like to thank our Gold Sponsor Neogen which has made Australian Food Safety Week and our Summer campaign possible.