الفهرس 
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Abstract
Food poisoning outbreaks are major cause of morbidity and mortality as well as economic losses in both developed and developing countries, and still considered as an important public health problem (Todd, 1990)(1). Numbers of food poisoning outbreaks have been increasing in the recent years. This increase has been attributed partially to change of food habits and food processing methods. Improved methods of detection and reporting may also be involved. The role of causative agents of food poisoning outbreaks, especially bacterial poisoning have attracted increasing attention all over the world (Gowden and Wall, 1995)(2). Therefore at present, a study of food poisoning outbreaks seems to be an urgent issue. It is very important to determine the extent and size of the problem and recommend a solution for control programs (Todd, 1995) (3).
It should be pointed out that the largest proportion of food poisoning cases are caused not by commercially prepared foods, but by food prepared in service establishments and homes where proper supervision and training in food handling is lacking (Boer and Hahne, 1990; Yamada et al., 1999; Charbonneau et al., 2000)(4-6).