What is the difference between salmonella and E. coli?

They are the two food-poisoning bacteria everyone has heard of, and they behave differently. Salmonella, per the FDA: symptoms usually begin 12 to 72 hours after infection, the illness typically lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment, with diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps as the classic triad. Its home turf is poultry, eggs, and produce, plus reptiles and backyard poultry as animal sources. E. coli is a bigger family with a meaner member: most strains are harmless gut residents, but Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, including O157:H7, can be particularly dangerous, per the FDA, with raw or undercooked ground meat, raw milk and cheeses, and contaminated vegetables and sprouts as the primary outbreak sources, and symptoms arriving anywhere from a day or so to nine days after exposure. The key differences to hold onto: bloody diarrhea points toward STEC and away from salmonella; STEC can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening kidney failure, especially in children, which salmonella almost never causes; and the food rules differ slightly: ground beef needs 160°F because grinding mixes surface bacteria throughout, while whole-cut risks concentrate on the surface. Both are prevented by the same basics: cook meat to temperature, wash produce and hands, and avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen.