People's increased traveling and free movement of foodstuffs has increased the risk of contracting food poisonings. Supply networks of foodstuffs with their covering cold chains and long shelf lives of foods have changed the risks of bacterial food poisonings. The significance of spore-forming bacteria and bacteria being capable of growing in the cold has increased. Elucidation by molecular biological detection and typing methods of reservoirs and routes of transport of food-borne bacteria from foodstuffs to humans has significantly increased our understanding of the epidemiology of these bacteria.