Food Poisoning Attorney Services in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia
If you’ve fallen ill and suspect it’s due to food poisoning, you should get in contact with any attorney about your case right away. Food poisoning, or food-borne illness, causes about 48 million people per year in the United States to get sick. Many cases of food poisoning go untreated, but hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized each year, and thousands are killed.
There are several different causes of food poisoning. Bacteria and viruses, such as salmonella, the Norwalk Virus (otherwise known as the stomach flu), and E. Coli, are the most commons cause of food poisoning. Parasites are also a commons cause of food poisoning. A parasite is any organism that lives by feeding off of other living organisms, including protozoa, roundworms and tapeworms. Mold and toxins, although less commons and bacteria, viruses, and parasites, can also cause food-borne illnesses. Some toxins are natural, for example toxins found in mushrooms, and others are chemical, such as pesticides.
Almost all of the food we consume everyday is handled, to some extent, by other people. Whether we are eating out at a restaurant or buying food in a supermarket, our food goes through several processes before it reaches the dining table, and it can be contaminated during any of these processes.
| Stage/Process | How Food Can Be Contaminated |
| Production & Harvesting | Food can be sprayed with contaminated water |
| Processing | Food can be washed or chilled in contaminated water or ice |
| Distribution | Warm temperatures on the loading dock can cause bacteria to grow |
| Preparation | Contamination can spread when uncontaminated food comes into contact with food that was contaminated during an earlier process |
Unfortunately, although there are extensive government regulations to help ensure that our food is safe, some contamination goes undetected and many people suffer food poisoning as a result through no fault of their own.
Food poisoning can often occur because of contaminates that go undetected by consumers. Symptoms of food-borne illness are varied but can include stomach cramping, nausea and vomiting, fever and dehydration. Severe cases of food poisoning have the potential to cause more long-term illnesses, such as kidney failure, chronic arthritis, brain and nerve damage, and death. If you suspect you have been the victim of food poisoning, you should freeze any remaining food that is potentially contaminated, go see a physician to get diagnosed, and file a complaint with the local health department as soon as possible. Filing a complaint will not only document your claim, but it can also prompt an inspection on either the local, state, or federal level. The level of inspection generally depends on how wide-spread the outbreak of food poisoning is.
The most important thing you can do to ensure you are fairly compensated for your food poisoning injury is to contact an experienced lawyer. The lawyers at Injury Law Education Center, P.C. aggressively help clients get the compensation they deserve for food poisoning injuries. If you think you’ve been the victim of food poisoning, contact us for a free consultation today.