Inside: Food Poisoning Compensation: Who Pays and How Much Do You Get? Collaborative post.
When you dine out or buy food from a takeaway outlet or grocery store, you expect to have a good experience. However, you may end up in the hospital with severe foodborne illness if someone fails to maintain proper food safety standards.
A large number of food poisoning cases stem from salmonella, E. coli, and listeria contamination. In 2024, for example, at least nine people died following a listeria outbreak at a Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt, Virginia.
In this article, we explain pursuing compensation for food poisoning. You’ll find out who can be held responsible and what forms of compensation are available.
What Is Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning happens when you consume contaminated food or drink. Contamination can arise from improper food handling, preparation, or storage.
Common symptoms of food poisoning or foodborne illness include abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and difficulty breathing. Severe food poisoning can result in serious illness, health complications, and death.
Contaminated meat, dairy products, fruits, and vegetables are more likely to cause foodborne illnesses. If you have to miss work because of food poisoning, you will lose wages and potentially have to pay excessive medical bills.
Food poisoning should not happen in 2024. There are enough safety guidelines that dictate how food should be handled and prepared. Unfortunately, people tend to be negligent when it comes to food, especially food preparation. This often leads to food poisoning. Even if food poisoning affects just one person, the negligent party must be liable.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Your Food Poisoning?
From production to distribution and preparation, the food supply chain can be long and involve multiple parties. As such, determining liability in food poisoning cases is often a complex process.
You need to identify the source of your food poisoning and determine liability before you can seek compensation.
The parties that may be responsible include the following:
- Restaurants: If you experience food poisoning symptoms after eating at a restaurant, the owner may be held responsible.
- Food manufacturers: If your food poisoning is linked to a specific product, the manufacturer may be responsible.
- Distributors and suppliers: If food contamination is determined to have happened during transportation and storage, parties like suppliers and grocery stores could be liable.
What Compensation Is Available for Food Poisoning
You can seek compensation from anyone who sold or served you contaminated food that made you sick. While this sounds straightforward, you need to identify the right parties to pursue and bring solid evidence to support your claims.
If you successfully prove your case, you may be entitled to the following compensation:
- Medical Expenses
You’ll be reimbursed for hospital stays, medications, and other medical expenses related to your food poisoning treatment. If food poisoning causes you to suffer ongoing health problems, you may be awarded compensation for future medical treatment.
- Lost Wages
If you cannot work for a few days or weeks, you can also demand compensation for the salary or wages lost during that time. If your illness is severe enough to affect your future earnings potential, you can demand compensation for that as well.
If your foodborne illness caused you to miss work, you can seek compensation for the wages lost while you were ill and recovering. Additionally, you may seek compensation for lost future earnings if the food poisoning affects your future earnings potential.
- Pain and Suffering
Food poisoning is never fun. Eating contaminated food will leave you in physical pain and may also cause you mental distress. You can seek compensation for both types of pain – economic and non-economic damages.
- Reduced Quality of Life
Depending on the severity of your food poisoning, it can affect your health to the point where you can no longer engage in certain activities. For instance, if you were a runner or swimmer and your health has deteriorated because of food poisoning, you can seek compensation for reduced quality of life. This is because you will likely never be able to fully participate in those activities again.
- Wrongful Death
More than 400,000 people die of food poisoning every year. This means it can happen to you or your loved ones. If your spouse or child dies because of food poisoning, you can file a wrongful death claim. This will allow you to get compensation to cover funeral expenses and the loss of financial support.
- Punitive Damages
If the court determines that an extreme case of negligence led to food poisoning, it can award punitive damages to punish the responsible party.
How Much Is Food Poisoning Compensation?
In food poisoning claims, compensation amounts often vary by case and depend on various factors. These factors include the severity of illness and the strength of the claim.
Steps You Should Take If You Suspect Food Poisoning
Food contamination can occur at any stage between production and preparation. When you file a food poisoning compensation claim, you must have solid evidence that the food you were sold or served was contaminated. You must also prove that the person or facility responsible for food safety is liable for your illness.
The following steps are most important when you suspect food poisoning.
- Get Medical Treatment
It does not matter how mild your symptoms seem. You must make it a point to see a doctor immediately and get a diagnosis. If your illness gets worse, as it usually does, you will have the medical records to back up your legal case.
- Report the Incident
If you get sick soon after eating at a restaurant, you must inform the owner. It is also important to let your local health department know about the incident, in case there is an outbreak of foodborne illness.
- Keep a Record
Normally, you would not keep the receipt or the food packaging of a takeout meal. You also would not keep any record of your dinner at a local restaurant. However, if you notice anything strange about your food while eating, that is exactly what you should do. You should also take photos of the food while you are at it.
- Get Information From Witnesses
If other people were with you at the restaurant when you ate the contaminated food, ask them to write down everything they saw. The same applies if someone was with you while eating takeout at home.
- Consult a Food Poisoning Lawyer
You are not going to win a food poisoning case on your own. Restaurants and takeout places usually have extensive legal resources that you will not be able to compete with. This is why you should hire a lawyer to represent you. A lawyer experienced in food poisoning cases will build a strong foundation for your case and so improve your chances of being compensated.
Filing a Food Poisoning Lawsuit
Most food poisoning cases settle outside of court, but this can only happen if the liable party’s insurer offers a fair settlement.
If you do not agree on the settlement offered by the insurer, you can go to court and have a judge or jury preside over your case.
A skilled food poisoning lawyer can prepare your case for court and argue your case on your behalf. Whether you settle outside or inside a courtroom, having a lawyer on your side gives you the best chance at success.