noun
Common term for illness caused by eating contaminated food.
昨日の刺身で食あたりになった。
I got food poisoning from yesterday's sashimi.
Standard kanji spelling for food poisoning.
Alternate kanji spelling using 当.
Rare kanji spelling using 中.
食中毒 is a more formal or medical term for food poisoning, while 食あたり is a common, everyday expression.
Compound of 食 (shoku, 'eating') and あたり (atari, 'hit' or 'strike'), literally meaning 'struck by food'.