Abstract: As food poisoning may cause disability and deaths, it has been incorporated into the national health emergency management category. In this study, the comparative analysis of food poisoning data during the period of 1985—2011 from China’s Ministry of Health was conducted to explore the characteristics and the trends of food poisoning. The result showed a decline in food poisoning case although there was slight growth from 2003 to 2004 and a low degree of regulated fluctuation from 2005 to 2011. The major cause of food poisoning could be attributed to some toxic plants, animals and mushroom, chemicals, microorganisms and unknown substances.. Microbial food poisoning accounted for the highest incidence of food poisoning. Chemical and toxic plants, animals and poisonous mushrooms were a major cause of death. Food poisoning occurs mainly in the third quarter. Therefore, this paper proposed two suggestions that it is essential to enhance the literacy of food poisoning across the population in high risk area and to improve emergency response capabilities of local health authorities.

Key words: food poisoning, characteristic analysis, variation trends, laws and regulations, emergency countermeasures