How long after eating does it take to get sick if you got food posioning?

According to the Wikipedia, "Symptoms typically begin several hours after ingestion and depending on the agent involved, can include one or more of the following: nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache or tiredness. In most cases the body is able to permanently recover after a short period of acute discomfort and illness."

Depending on the agent causing the illness, the incubation period (time it takes the illness to show symptoms) can be anywhere from 1 - 6 hours, or in some rare cases weeks, months or years.

WebMd offers an interesting look at the causes of Food Poisoning and discusses the symptoms further.

It takes up to a day or two for the bacteria to incubate and take over. But you can get sick within 3 hours even.

In my experience it can take up to 24-48 hours before some or all symtoms of food poisoning to occur.

From first hand experience..between 3 and 4 hours for it to start...or the effects...then it may last days before your body has cleansed itself...it sucks