This study analyzed and discussed the trends of the total number of food poisonings from 2000 to 2008(19years)occurred under the classification of “Food Service Facilities”, “Other than Food Service Facilities” and “Unknown Facilities” using the food poisoning statistics published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Based on the results of the food poisoning outbreaks, we analyzed the number of incidents, poisoned patients, and patients per incident respectively. As a result, we found that both the number of incidents and poisoned patients in “Food Service Facilities” decreased significantly from Period I(2000-2007)to Period II(2008-2018), while the number of patients per incident in “Food Service Facilities” did not decrease. Moreover, the number of patients per incident were significantly higher than that in “Other than Food Service Facilities”. The overall number of incidents and the poisoned patients in “Food Service Facilities” accounted for only a small proportion of the total number of food poisonings. In addition, most of the incidents and poisoned patients in the “Food Service Facilities” were caused by small to medium-sized facilities with less than 300 eaters, and about half of the incidents and poisoned patients in these facilities occurred at nursing homes and nursery schools. These findings suggest that it is necessary to investigate the actual situation of hygiene management, especially in small to medium-sized food service facilities.
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