How widespread was food poisoning in Europe during the Middle Ages? AskHistorians

I recently had my very first bout of food poisoning, and while perched upon the porcelain throne I got to wondering.... One might assume that, since refrigerators didn't exist and whatnot, food poisoning would be more common in the Middle Ages. But was it? Was it typically more or less severe than the food poisoning I might get from some badly-prepared Chinese takeout (ahem)? Did people ever die from food poisoning? When they did get food poisoning, was it recognized as such? Did the perception/understanding of food poisoning evolve over the course of the Middle Ages?

Submitted February 19, 2017 at 06:58PM by selanfe http://ift.tt/2l9nSTC AskHistorians