Bacteria

Bacteria reproduce using a system called binary fission, one bacterium cell will split into two cells, two cells will split into four and so on. If food is kept in the danger zone 8-63oC one bacterium could become several million in 8 hours and thousands of millions in 12 hours.

This means that contaminated food with only a small number of bacteria left in the danger zone may seriously be contaminated. This is especially dangerous as one cannot smell or taste bacteria.

The most common bacterium's associated with food poisoning are:

Campylobacter

Clostridium Perfringens

Salmonella

E. coli