Lawyers highlight food safety essentials
When enjoying a nice meal out, maybe for a special occasion, few people will be thinking of the possibility of falling seriously ill because of the negligence of the owners of the establishment, but a number of recent cases have exposed just this risk.
Although generally more common during trips abroad, eating at restaurants in the UK has led to a number of outbreaks of food-borne pathogens including E. coli and salmonella thanks to badly maintained food hygiene standards at restaurants.
Adequate food hygiene is, of course, essential for any business that is serving or preparing food for consumption by the public and can lead to large compensation settlements if not followed correctly.
Tangled web
A recent case that hit the headlines in the North West of England involved a restaurant, that is now closed, that was found guilty in court for numerous breaches of health and safety guidelines and according to court transcripts were totally unaware of the dangers of bad hygiene.
The Indian restaurant based in Yorkshire was the epicentre of a rare outbreak of the gastro-intestinal bug giardia lamblia, which it is estimated affected around 60 people. According to one leading no win, no fee lawyer who is representing a number of the plaintiffs, claims were being pursued against both owners.
Recently two of the owners were handed suspended sentences and prevented from working with food for life because of the bad conditions that were found in their establishment. According to the recorder in the legal case, the restaurant was “riddled” with giardia lamblia and E. coli and was “an accident waiting to happen”.
“It is clear that this restaurant was the source of the food poisoning suffered by a large number of people who had dined and, more specifically, drank water at the premises. Your restaurant is responsible through criminal ineptitude and sheer laziness for causing a large amount of misery to a large number of people who have suffered very unpleasant symptoms for up to two months,” said recorder Carl Gumsley.
According to news reports the outbreak first came to notice when one woman, who fell ill, attempted to setup an action group to investigate the illness. Later, many of those who suffered from the sickness contacted the local newspaper in order to voice their concerns.
Giardia lamblia is a relatively rare pathogen in the UK and receives far less attention than more common diseases like salmonella and E. coli but its effect can be horrific for those who catch it. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhoea and lethargy and can last for up to two weeks.
Recent no win, no fee cases involving the consumption of contaminated meat and other foods have resulted in a number of high level injury awards, with one man who eat an E. Coli infected burger winning around three-quarters of a million pounds. The man ate the burger while on holiday in Egypt and thanks to the disease he now receives dialysis three times every week, thanks to the damage the bug had done to his kidneys.
Updated on 9/15/2009