Food Poisoning Claims

If you think you may have had food poisoning then give National Accident Helpline™ a call to talk about making a compensation claim. It is unfortunate that you may have eaten something that has led to illness, and it can be a very uncomfortable situation - in bad cases leading to more than just a day or two off work on bed rest.

A lot of people don’t realise that if you’ve contracted food poisoning from a restaurant, café or eatery, and it is therefore not your fault, it is classed as a personal injury and you could make a claim for food poisoning compensation.

Usually the symptoms of food poisoning don’t last too long, perhaps a day or 2, and could include diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, dehydration, stomach cramps and stomach upsets. Normally this can be cleared up with easy to obtain medicines from the local chemists. However, in very extreme circumstances food poisoning can cause nervous system damage and even death. The Food Standards Agency estimate that 5.5 million people in the UK contract food poisoning every year, yet due to most not being very severe less than 100,000 of these cases are actually reported.

Getting food poisoning is most commonly caused by bad hygiene on the part of chefs. Not following basic standards such as washing hands, using clean kitchen tools, not mixing raw meat with cooked meat or other food and cooking in an unclean environment are all causes. Food standards are present to stop germs, bacteria, parasites or chemicals contaminating what we eat and drink, and then causing illness.

Among governing bodies trying to prevent food poisoning from occurring, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is an independent government body set up to promote safer food. It was set up in 2000 by an Act of Parliament.

Two of the bacteria that cause the most frequent food poisoning instances are e-coli and salmonella:

E-Coli
E-coli are a bacterium that lives in the lower intestines of healthy mammals. It can be destroyed through washing food and cooking it thoroughly, and washing your hands after touching it will ensure it doesn’t get transferred to other food through touch.

Salmonella
Salmonella is a type of bacteria normally found in meat and poultry, eggs (and egg based products, e.g. mayonnaise), seafood, unpasteurised milk and untreated water.
Similarly to e-coli, it is destroyed by heat, so it’s important to cook any food properly, and to wash hands after touching food to ensure it doesn’t get transferred onto anything else, including other food.
Salmonella is particularly hard to eliminate once ingested, and can resurrect itself if the victim falls ill, feels run down or is elderly.

There are other bacteria that cause food poisoning upsets, including clostridium botulinum, campylobacter, are many more. A general rule when preparing food is to cook it thoroughly and ensure correct hygiene is followed such as washing hands and using clean utensils.

If you’ve suffered from food poisoning that wasn’t your fault, you could have a case to make a claim for food poisoning compensation. If you call the National Accident Helpline™ or fill in the quick online claim form then we can advise you on what to do next and how the compensation process works.