'I ate Boxing Day leftovers and was so violently sick I needed medical treatment': As cases of festive food poisoning soar, read our expert guide on how to stop it wrecking YOUR Christmas
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Should you strip leftover turkey from the carcass or store it as it is? Is it better to put left-overs in the fridge immediately, or wait until they are stone cold?. It's knowing the answers to such questions, say experts, that can help prevent your festivities being ruined by food poisoning.
![[Cooking to above 75c for just a few seconds destroys Campylobacter and norovirus]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/23/15/93428645-14221649-image-a-20_1734966275786.jpg)
While most of those affected recover within days, for at-risk groups such as older people it can be more than 'just' an upset stomach – and can even be life-threatening. But even otherwise healthy people can become seriously unwell. Samantha Norman, 59, was so violently sick after eating leftovers last Christmas that she needed medical treatment. Samantha, who lives in Cardiff, returned home with leftover turkey and veg after enjoying a Christmas lunch cooked by her brother and which she fried with some oil on Boxing Day.
'It tasted delicious and perfectly fine,' says Samantha. But within hours, she was doubled over in pain. 'The cramps in my stomach were so strong,' she says. 'Then I had to run to the loo. Suddenly I was vomiting and I couldn't stop. I'd be sick, think that was it, then have to run back moments later.'.
Over the following 48 hours, Samantha was so sick she started bringing up bile, and also suffered diarrhoea. Samantha Norman, 59, lost 3lb in just three days after eating leftovers last Christmas caused extreme vomiting. 'I was terrified,' she says. 'In just three days I lost 3lb. I was worried because I am on immunosuppressant medication (methotrexate) and knew it would not be absorbed if I was being sick.'.
