Preventing food poisoning at New Jersey restaurants

Although most of us will survive a bout of food poisoning after several days of extreme digestive, stomach and feverish discomfort, not all members of the population will have it so easy. Indeed, what is merely a simple case of food poisoning for one person, could send another one into the hospital — especially the very young, old and frail. Indeed, food poisoning can even be deadly.

According to a recent study, Americans are twice as likely to contract a foodborne illness while eating out than eating in. Researchers recently looked at data regarding over 3,900 solved cases of food-related illness over a 10-year period in the United States and they found that over 1,600 food poisoning outbreaks were linked to restaurant meals that affected over 28,000 people. Comparatively, 900 outbreaks were sourced from private homes and affected approximately 13,000 individuals.

With this in mind, although it is less hassle and in many ways a lot more entertaining to eat outside of the house, it could be a twice as dangerous from a food illness perspective. To make matters worse, these days, states may be spending less money on finding foodborne illness outbreaks than they were in the past. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that food illness dropped by 42 percent during the period of 2002 through 2011, but it suspects that the reason is because states are not trying to identify and track down incidences as diligently as they did in the past.

New Jersey residents who have suffered serious illness and injury after eating at a restaurant may have the ability to seek financial compensation for their injuries in court. If successfully navigated, such a personal injury claim could bring plaintiffs money to pay for their medical care and time spent unable to work as a result of the condition.

Source: Money Crashers, “How to Prevent Food Poisoning In Restaurants,” Heather Levin, accessed July 29, 2016