Do You Need a Lawyer for Food Poisoning?

Did you know that in 2015, 500 people around the country got sick from eating food at Chipotle restaurants in a string of widely reported contamination outbreaks? We hear all the time about food poisoning or contaminated foods and it does target certain areas or food establishments.

Some crazy statistics from the Food and Drug Administration include: 3,000 foodborne illness-related deaths, 128,000 hospitalizations due to food poisoning and 48 million cases of foodborne illnesses. Food poisoning usually happens due to poor handling of foods or preparing them, but I had no idea death could happen from that. I mean I assumed upset stomachs or nausea but hospitalization and death are something I never considered.

I’ve had what I thought was food poisoning before but it was just something I health with for 24 hours or so and then moved on with life. I am fortunate to have others to help take care of me and my family can manage without me so we were not too inconvenienced but what about those who don’t have help or get really sick? I couldn’t imagine my spouse getting so sick he had to take off work due to something out of his control. What if he didn’t have sick time at work or what if he used it all, we’d go without a paycheck but still have bills to pay plus now medical expenses.

If you suspect a certain product or food establishment is what made you sick. Report it! A government agency cannot investigate an outbreak of food poisoning if they do not know about it but with enough complaints they can. If your case is so serious and you need help, there are even the lawyers at marks & harrison who take on food poisoning cases. It doesn’t hurt to talk to someone and see if you have a case and hopefully even help others out there by creating attention to the food or company.