Articles Posted in Food Poisoning

There are certain things every person can do to avoid getting a foodborne illness. This includes washing your hands when preparing food, making sure all utensils are clean and keeping food at the proper temperature.  As we all know, there any many foods that, when left out long enough, will develop harmful bacteria that can result in extreme discomfort in the best of cases and serious illness or death in worst cases.

Salmonella is a type of bacteria typically found in meats like uncooked chicken.  However, if you cook the food to the proper temperature, you should have no trouble.  When you eat prepackaged foods, or go out to restaurant, you do not have the same control and are essentially at the mercy of others to help you avoid getting a serious case of food poisoning.  One of the last sources of foodborne illness one might expect would be pre-packaged foods, like potato chips. It is important to understand that if a company is negligent with its food production methods, any type of food can become contaminated.

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According to a recent news article from Syracuse.com, two customers from Wal-Mart had purchased a package of Marketside Organic Spring Mix brand salad and discovered what the authorities first called “extraneous animal matter.”  As it turns out, that is a nice way of saying was part of a decomposing bat that had found its way into bags of prepackaged salad mix sold primarily in southern U.S. Wal-Mart stores.

The two alleged victims of this defective product reported having eaten some of the salad before finding the bat parts, and, for this reason, there was a threat of rabies and other pathogens.  The bat material was sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for testing to determine if the bat had rabies or any other serious pathogens that could affect a human, but the bat was too deteriorated to perform any of the tests.  Continue reading

Over the past few years, we have some major ice cream product recalls as a result of listeria contamination. This time, there has been a recall of three gourmet ice cream brands due to listeria contamination fears according to a recent news release from the Consumerist.

For those who are not familiar with listeria, it is a strain of bacteria that, if ingested by humans, can result in a serious infection known as listeriosis. This infection is generally only caused by eating foods contaminated with listeria.  A person who is infected by listeria will often develop a fever and muscle aches. The victim will also typically develop diarrhea as well as other gastrointestinal symptoms.  However, since listeria is considered invasive, the infection can quickly spread to other parts of the body. A listeria infection can be very harmful to pregnant woman and can result in a miscarriage. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from International Business Times, Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest producers of poultry products, recently recalled over 130,000 pounds of fully cooked chicken nuggets because they believe these nuggets may contain hard plastic.  This was announced after a statement by the U.S. Department of Agricultural (USDA) and its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Consumers who noticed the foreign substance in their fully cooked chicken nuggets first discovered this food contamination. This plastic is believed to have once been part of a rod used in a conveyor belt at the factory that transported the nuggets during the production and packaging process.  Continue reading

In the past two years we have seen various coverage in the media about listeria being found in multiple consumer food products, resulting in large scale recalls.  Listeria is a bacteria that is formally known as Listeria monocytogenes, and can result in serious gastrointestinal (GI) infection in humans.

Symptoms of Listeria infection include high fever, stomach pain, diarrhea, joint stiffness, nausea, and severe headaches.  While it is not fatal to the average adult in otherwise good health, it can be fatal to women who are pregnant, very old or very young patients, and those with a compromised immune system.   Last year alone, according to a recent news feature from CNN, there were an estimated 1,600 cases of Listeria, and of those cases, 260 people died.  Continue reading

When we go to the grocery store and pick up frozen vegetables and fruit, were are normally doing this out of an attempt to lead a healthy lifestyle despite, the hectic nature of our daily routine.  This is especially true when we buy organic products so as to cut down on exposure to potentially harmful pesticides and man-made chemical fertilizers.

Another benefit to buying frozen food is that it is typically prewashed, precut and ready to cook or blend into a smoothie, for example.  However, when not washing the vegetables, were are assuming they have been washed by the manufacturer and are safe and free of harmful bacteria. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Continue reading

According to a recent news article from Cincinnati.com, a listeria outbreak, which has allegedly resulted in at least one death, has led to the complete shutdown of a Dole packaging facility in Springfield, Ohio that shipped the potentially contaminated salad mix to 23 states.

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said the salads have been confirmed as the cause of one death in the state of Michigan and the hospitalization of a dozen others across the United States. The cases of hospitalization have occurred in several states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. One of the listeria victims was as young as three years old and one was as old as 83. Continue reading

Food poisoning is one of the worst experiences a person can go through. In even the most mild of cases, it often involves a lot of pain and discomfort and time missed from work. However, what many people do not realize is that is that, depending on the age of the victim and the strain of bacteria or virus involved, contaminated food can lead to serious injury or death.

In cases of serious food poisoning, the plaintiff typically follows a negligence-based cause of action. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the normal negligence standard is that defendant failed to act as a reasonable and prudent person to prevent foreseeable injuries to foreseeable plaintiffs. This can also be the basis for a food poisoning products liability case. Continue reading