Food Poisoning: Is It a Crime?

3-04-2011 @11:50AM FrenchBlue367 said... The question here is whether restaurants IN GENERAL should be held liable in food poisoning cases, not whether THIS restaurant is liable for this boy's death. To answer the question, YES, I think that if neglect to properly clean work surfaces (filth, germs, etc--not meeting cleanliness standards, etc) can be proven and a person dies as a result of eating tainted food, by all means they should be liable. If it can be proven that the restaurant in question has sub-standard conditions resulting in tainted food, then absolutely. People trust restaurants to be clean and disease/germ-free, that trust is breached when someone is too lazy to do their job.
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3-04-2011 @1:23PM joel said... It happen in France , differents country , different laws ,
this law was enacted well over 50 years ago and proven extremely effective , unlikev the USA the Frebnch sanitation inspector order destruction of possible contaminated food immediately . Yes food service ioperation should be held liasble for the qualitty of food they serve . I only spend 40 years in the industry . in the USA irt is very frequent to see meat truck delivering meat in unrefrigerated truck meat pile up , delivery man walking in the street , the gutter then in the truck with contaminated boots "china town any city for instance" no wonder it always have good flavor ........................
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3-04-2011 @9:42PM j4bs said... I manage a restaurant and food safety and sanitation are the #1 priority of the company. All our management staff MUST pass a serv-safe class every few years. We monitor employee hand washing and only hire associates that appear to have good hygiene. We are very strict with standards as far as food temperatures goes, and we do everything right to ensure no one gets sick. To my knowledge, no one has ever gotten a food borne illness from our restaurant chain. Although the company does everything right, as far as precautions goes, it is not always possible to prevent something like this from happening. The manager can not follow people into the bathroom of course, and although we require a person to re-wash their hands once returning to the line, we have no way of knowing what they did when the stall door was closed. The person very well might have touched their shirt before leaving the bathroom stall. They return to the line and lean over to reach for something and their shirt touches the cutting board. Not realizing this happened they make your lunch and accidentally make someone sick, and in addition everyone that touches the cutting board now has the bacteria on their gloves. I could give you 100+ more scenarios that end up with someone ACCIDENTALLY getting sick. While a company can do everything within their control to prevent a food borne illness, nothing is 100%. There is no magic wand anyone can waive that will detect bacteria, and until that exists, you can't blame the manager. On the other hand, if the place is obviously filthy, people not washing their hands, touching their mouth, face etc, and no one is monitoring their behavior, then they should hold the manager accountable. The manager, and also the board of health inspector that signed off on their inspection.
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3-09-2011 @9:38AM I_Fortuna said... They should absolutely be held responsible for their careless food handling. I have experienced food poisoning and it is horrendous.

Anyone with a weakened immune system may have serious complications or die in my opinion. I had never been so ill and I thought I would die. The food in questions was from a well known California Mexican fast food chain. I had discarded the receipt and could not do anything to prove it was them. Now I keep all the receipts from where I eat for at least a day or two. I make sure the food comes to me hot. I watch out for nacho cheese , a big culprit, that has not been heated thoroughly. I try to buy a bottled drink from the establishment as fountain drink are often full of bacteria due to the machines not being properly and often cleaned. There are ways to protect yourself.

In addtion, international grocers should be patronized with care. I had bought Korean sake from a Korean grocery thinking it was fully brewd and fermented like Japanese sake and it made me violently ill. Certain beverages that have the same name are often processed differently in different countries. Beware and read labels. If you cannot understand the label, ask qustions, keep the reciept and make the owners accountable.
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3-06-2011 @11:44AM charlie said... I used to be a food inspector for the state. The best food sanitation was always at Mcdonalds. The worst were always the mom and pop orienteal restaurants that have been something else before they made them a restaurant.
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3-06-2011 @4:50PM paul said... The answer is clear. More has to be done! Has anyone watched hells kitchen? YOU MAY WANT TO RETHINK EATING OUT!! In a few cases he has had to shut down a resturant because of cross contamination, mold & worse!! The goverment needs money? Instead of taking it from the little people, hire more inspectors,look at EVERYTHING to do with the resturant ... then warn them they will be back in 30 days & fine them $5,000.00 to be paid in 30 days for the 1st offence, 2nd time, 15,000 3rd time 30,000 & check on them in 30 days each time.. If after 3 times that they don't comply,,,,SHUT THEM DOWN & CONFISCATE THEIR BUSINESS & AUCTION IT OFF!!! The goverment will get between $5,000 & $30,000. Watch how clean they will become & with all that generated income, MAYBE they can close the buget gap just a little bit! & a little side note.... Just because a resturant got a zaget rating, DOES'NT MEAN IT IS CLEAN!!!
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3-07-2011 @9:10AM anita said... i think a resteraunt where many people get food poisening SHOULD be held accountable ok it might not be do to poor hygene on employees parts is the kitchen nasty? how is the food kept ? cold things kept at right temperatures ? hot things kept at proper temps ? there are soo many things that factor in not just employee hygene
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3-07-2011 @12:34PM John said... I fell ill from a nasty sushi. I had watery diarrhea for two weeks, and now, two years later, am just recovering a good bowel movement. I coudn't take anti-diarretics because I have hep-c, and these are known to damage the liver.

The sushi shop's owner was entirely unsympathetic. Others got ill, as well, and the bug, a more virulent one, possibly from Guatemala, possibly from the Orient, has spread to the fancy restaurants nearby. One, an elite and "ancient" traditional French restaurant, has closed down.

These ##%^&(())!! should take hygiene seriously. Any creep with a grade-school, or less, education can get into restaurateuring. Teach them if they choose to open a public establishment, and make them pay for the education. Or else, make lawsuits in these cases easier and more damaging to these active-passive felons.


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3-10-2011 @11:51PM babyboomer1001 said... Yes, they should be held liable. Food poisoning is horribly painful and if it causes death, absolutely the restaurant should be held liable. Perhaps, they might start giving a damn if held responsible. Too many of them don't give a damn. Years ago, my father was poisoned by a restaurant and violently ill for three weeks. He could eat nothing and was in bed the entire time in pain. What a lousy summer he had. We thought he was going to die. I think he almost did. My sister was food poisoned once. We traced it to a local restaurant who failed to refrigerate mayonnaise. If restaurants don't use common sense and follow basic food preparation rules, they must be held liable to the fullest extent. To ignore it is to condone a wrongful action causing death, severe illness, etc. I don't know what permanent damage, if any, is caused by a severe case but, not to prosecute is a crime.
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