If you become seriously ill after eating at a restaurant, café, takeaway shop or catered event, you may suspect food poisoning almost immediately. But knowing that you became sick after a meal and proving that the food caused your illness are two different things.
Food poisoning compensation claims can be particularly challenging because gastrointestinal illness has many possible causes. Symptoms may not appear until hours or even days after contaminated food was consumed, and other people who ate the same meal may not necessarily become ill.
If you are considering a compensation claim in NSW, the evidence therefore needs to establish more than the fact that you became unwell. It may need to connect the illness to particular food, identify how contamination could have occurred and demonstrate the loss you suffered as a result.
What Is Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning, also called foodborne illness, refers to illnesses caused by consuming contaminated food or drink.
The NSW Food Authority identifies common causes including bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli and Listeria, viruses including Norovirus and Hepatitis A, and toxins produced by certain pathogens. Symptoms commonly include nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and headaches.
Importantly, symptoms do not always begin immediately after eating contaminated food. Depending on the pathogen, onset may range from several hours to several days.
That delay can make identifying the source more complicated.
Can You Claim Compensation for Food Poisoning?
Potentially, but becoming sick after eating food supplied by a business does not automatically establish a compensation claim.
A claim based on negligence generally requires evidence showing that reasonable care was not taken and that the failure caused your injury.
Under the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), questions of negligence include whether a risk was foreseeable, whether it was not insignificant and whether a reasonable person would have taken precautions against it.
Food businesses also operate within food safety laws. The NSW Food Authority regulates and monitors food safety under the Food Act 2003 (NSW) and associated regulations, alongside local councils.
Potential problems could involve poor temperature control, cross-contamination, inadequate cooking or unsafe food handling. However, the circumstances of the particular incident need to be established rather than assumed.
Why Is Proving the Source of Food Poisoning Difficult?
One of the biggest evidentiary challenges is causation: proving which food actually caused the illness.
It is easy to assume that your most recent meal was responsible. According to the NSW Food Authority, however, the food responsible may have been eaten considerably earlier. Some foodborne pathogens can also spread from person to person or through contaminated surfaces, producing similar symptoms.
The timing of your symptoms therefore needs to be considered alongside the incubation period associated with the suspected pathogen.
For example, becoming ill after dinner does not necessarily mean dinner caused the illness. Food eaten earlier that day or even several days beforehand could potentially be responsible.
A compensation claim becomes stronger when several independent pieces of evidence point towards the same source.
Why Are Medical Records Important?
Seeking appropriate medical attention is important for your health and may also create valuable evidence.
Medical records can document:
- when symptoms began
- the nature and severity of the illness
- treatment required
- suspected diagnosis
- time away from work
- complications or ongoing symptoms
In some circumstances, pathology testing may identify the organism responsible.
NSW Health's guidance for suspected foodborne illness investigations notes that investigators may review medical and laboratory records. Where an affected person remains unwell, stool specimens may also be requested as part of a public health investigation.
A confirmed pathogen can be particularly useful where the same organism is identified in other affected diners or associated food samples.
Do Other People Becoming Sick Strengthen the Evidence?
If several people ate the same food and subsequently developed similar symptoms within a consistent timeframe, that pattern may help identify a common source.
The NSW Food Authority explains that reports involving the same food, food business or groups of people becoming unwell can prompt further investigation.
Real outbreak investigations illustrate why this matters. In one NSW Food Authority investigation involving Salmonella and fried ice cream, multiple diners became ill, laboratory testing identified Salmonella in affected people, and investigators considered what each person had eaten. Evidence showing that the only person in one dining group who remained well had not eaten the suspected food helped investigators identify the likely source.
One person's illness may therefore be difficult to attribute to a particular meal, while a cluster of similar illnesses can provide considerably more context.
What Should You Keep After Suspected Food Poisoning?
Evidence can disappear quickly, so keeping relevant material may be worthwhile.
The NSW Food Authority recommends retaining information including the time and date the food was consumed, what was eaten, when illness began and the nature and severity of symptoms. It also recommends keeping leftover food, packaging and receipts when making a food safety complaint.
Depending on the circumstances, useful evidence for a potential compensation claim could include:
- receipts or electronic payment records
- photographs of the food
- packaging and product information
- leftover food
- booking confirmations
- delivery-app records
- medical and pathology records
- details of other diners
- correspondence with the food business
- records of a complaint to the relevant authority
Write down what you ate and when while events are still fresh in your memory. Because incubation periods vary, it may also be relevant to record other food consumed in the days before symptoms appeared.
What Losses Could Become Relevant?
If liability can be established, the value of a claim will depend on the actual harm and loss caused.
A brief illness from which someone makes a complete recovery will be very different from severe foodborne illness resulting in hospitalisation, prolonged time away from work or lasting health complications.
Evidence of loss might include:
- medical and treatment expenses
- lost wages
- travel expenses associated with treatment
- ongoing healthcare costs
- evidence of longer-term impairment
The NSW Food Authority notes that although most cases resolve, food poisoning can in rare circumstances result in long-term health problems or death.
Compensation therefore depends not simply on proving contaminated food was consumed, but also on demonstrating what consequences resulted from it.
How Can Law Advice Help With a Food Poisoning Claim?
Food poisoning claims can be difficult because the most important issue is often not whether you became ill, but why you became ill and whether the evidence can reliably connect that illness to food supplied by a particular business.
The public liability lawyers at Law Advice can assess the circumstances surrounding the illness, review medical and other evidence, identify who may be responsible and consider whether further records or expert evidence are needed. Where significant financial or medical consequences have resulted, they can also assess the losses that may potentially form part of a compensation claim.
If you believe contaminated food caused a serious illness, speaking with a compensation lawyer like Law Advice can help determine whether the available evidence is strong enough to investigate a claim and what further steps may be needed before important evidence is lost.