Foodborne infections occur when a pathogen invades the body after consumption of contaminated food. Which term describes this category?

• A. Intoxication
• B. Infection
• C. Zoonosis
• D. Contamination

Answer: (B)

The key idea is distinguishing how illness arises after eating contaminated food—whether the disease comes from an invading organism or from toxins. A foodborne infection occurs when a viable pathogen survives digestion, invades the gut lining, and multiplies in the body, causing illness. This explains why infections are tied to organisms that actually establish infection in the host, with examples like Salmonella or Campylobacter. In contrast, an intoxication would involve illness caused by toxins present in or formed in food, not by the pathogen invading tissues. Contamination simply means the food contains microbes or toxins, but doesn’t specify how illness develops. Zoonosis refers to disease transmitted from animals to humans, not the mechanism of foodborne illness. So the term that best describes this category is infection.