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Making a food complaint

Did you know that it can take from as little as 20 minutes to several weeks to become unwell from food contaminated by pathogens – and your illness may not be caused by the last thing you ate.

Foodborne illness can be mild but sometimes (especially if you have low immunity), it can be life-threatening. Symptoms can range from mild stomach upset through to severe abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea – and worse.

If you think your illness was caused by food, you may wish to
seek advice from your doctor.

Reporting a foodborne illness – FAQs

Some foodborne illnesses such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria or Hepatitis A are notifiable diseases. This means that if you’ve seen a doctor, they are legally required to report the illness to the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) at your local public health unit (PHU) so that local authorities can help prevent the spread of the disease and stop another happening in future. More.

Suspected foodborne illness

If you think you have a foodborne illness, report it directly to a Health Protection Officer at your local Public Health Unit and you may wish to also consult your family doctor if your symptoms persist, or are severe.

Symptoms of foodborne illnesses include:

- vomiting

- nausea

- diarrhoea

- stomach cramps

- muscle pain

- headache

- fever.

To find out more about symptoms, possible causes, as well as the typical time-frames in which they can occur after eating contaminated food, please see our publication Meet the Bugs.

Premises hygiene complaint

If you want to report a 'dirty' food premises or unhygienic practices of food handlers, contact and Environmental Health Officer at your Local Council.

Typical examples include:

- vermin

- poor personal hygiene of food handlers

- visibly unclean premises

- poor food handling and hand-hygiene (use of gloves is optional – see our fact sheet for more information).

Breach of food for sale regulations

If you want to report an apparent breach in food for sale regulations, report this to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority by phone on 0800 693 721 (0800 NZFSA1), or by email: info@nzfsa.govt.nz

Examples include:

- foreign objects in food

- misrepresentation or mislabelling

- food unfit for human consumption

- food being sold past its ‘Use-By’ date (See date-marking fact-sheet).

Food Allergies – undeclared allergens

If you suspect that there is an undeclared allergen in a food, contact NZFSA on 0800 693 721 (0800 NZFSA1), or by email: info@nzfsa.govt.nz or your local Public Health Unit.

Information on potential food allergens that must be declared on food labels or made available to you if you ask for it. See /food-labelling/fact-sheets/fs-2003-03-allergen-labelling.htm.