Food-Bourne Illness Places D.C. Restaurants at Risk of Personal Injury Law Suits
One reported bout of food poisoning can send customers fleeing and destroy the reputations of Washington D.C. and Virginia restaurants. Even though the fault may lie with tainted produce, eggs or meat and not restaurant health and safety procedures, once the public connects a restaurant to the outbreak of an illness it can be difficult to convince customers to return.
Every summer seems to bring at least one major outbreak of food illness in the U. S. that has the potential to sicken and sometimes kill consumers and eat away at D.C. and Virginia restaurant reputations if they are unlucky enough to count the offending supplier among their list of food providers. Earlier this year an E. coli outbreak in pre-cut lettuce sickened scores. Salmonella-laced peanut butter from a Georgia manufacturing plant sickened hundreds. The recent salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000 people nationally has been traced to two egg farms in Iowa that supply eggs to stores and restaurants across the country. Egg suppliers recalled 228 million eggs sold under a variety of brands, including some of the country's well known grocery chains.
When customers become ill or die from food-borne illness because a restaurant has unknowingly used tainted food products, the restaurant can be held liable. A D.C. personal injury lawyer with a firm background in restaurant law can guide Washington D.C. and Virginia restaurant owners through the confusing maze of applicable laws and regulations governing the food industry, advise restaurateurs of potential liability risks and work to protect the rights and reputations of restaurants if food-borne illness strikes.
