With a quality caterer, like a caterer or event venue trusts, you’ll probably never have to worry about food poisoning or issues with your event. However, if you have experienced the effects of food poisoning after eating a catered meal, you may be wondering if you can be granted compensation from the catering company. The answer to this question is yes, but only if it is proven positive that what you ate from the particular caterer is what caused you to be sick. In these types of cases, it is almost always the fault of the catering company as they produce large quantities of food and must maintain certain temperatures throughout their cooking, prepping, and delivery process to ensure no harmful bacteria forms. The Center for Disease Control estimates 48 million people get food poisoning per year. Food poisoning cases resulting from catering have been on the rise in recent years. In the event that you contract food poisoning from a catered event, you must go through a few steps before pursuing compensation.
How Can You Tell?
First you must clarify that you did, in fact, contract food poisoning. Food poisoning is known to mimic flu like symptoms like vomiting, nausea and headaches. The most common forms of food poisoning begin showing symptoms within 2-6 hours of ingestion. Typically, the milder the case, the later the symptoms show up – so if you have a very severe case and have ingested a large amount of bacteria, you could have symptoms very soon after eating. In severe cases, some people even recall feeling off or uncomfortable as they are eating – as the telltale feeling of your tummy starting to turn seems to indicate – only to get violently ill a few hours later. A common sign of immediate food poisoning is nausea and an upset stomach. The only way to know for sure would be to schedule a doctor’s appointment. If food poisoning is confirmed by a doctor, you will need to contact an epidemiologist and arrange for a stool culture sample or blood test to help rule out other causes and help make a concrete diagnosis. This will also help confirm where you got the food poisoning from and if it really resulted from a catering company.
What You Can Do Next
After getting confirmation that your food poisoning came from a specific caterer, you should report it to the Department of Health and call the caterer to inform them. If the business does not offer up any form of communication or compensation, you should contact an attorney to further pursue reimbursement for your troubles.
