How Can Eating Pasta Sauce Cause an Upset Stomach?
Gastroenteritis that develops after eating pasta sauce can occur due to food poisoning. After you eat pasta sauce that contains an infectious organism, the lining of your stomach and intestines will develop an infection and inflammation, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Pasta sauce can acquire contamination during the manufacturing process or during preparation if it is handled with contaminated utensils or cookware. If you refrigerate and reheat the pasta sauce multiple times, you’re at a greater risk of developing food poisoning.
According to StatPearls, the bacteria Bacillus cereus is common in sauces left out at room temperature for too long (and can also be present in grains like pasta). If you’ve left a sauce-slathered pasta dish to sit on the side for too long, it might put you at risk of Bacillus cereus contamination.
The organism contaminating the pasta sauce will determine the severity and duration of the symptoms. Most symptoms appear within a few hours of eating contaminated pasta sauce.
For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that Bacillus cereus often causes diarrheal symptoms 6 to 15 hours after eating, or vomiting symptoms 30 minutes to six hours after eating the affected sauce.
Along with diarrhea, the most common symptoms of gastroenteritis from food poisoning include the following:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Fever and chills
- Fatigue
- Appetite loss
- Stomach cramps
- Body aches
Call your doctor if you notice the following:
- Blood in your vomit or stool
- An inability to keep down fluids
- A fever lasting three or more days, or a body temperature over 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius)
- General symptoms lasting for five days or longer
- Severe belly pain
- Changes in mental status
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