Holiday Food Poisoning Claims

Holiday food poisoning claims have increased in the past 12 months and holidaymakers have complained of illness after eating food at all inclusive hotels in Egypt, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Tunisia, Spain, Lanzarote, Tenerife and Cuba.

Not all food is suitable for bacterial growth. Food containing sugar, salt and acid such as jam or pickles will discourage the growth of bacteria.

What is important for you to remember are those foods that encourage and allow bacteria to grow and these are referred to as high risk foods. The following are the main categories:

All meat and poultry products provide the conditions for bacterial growth. Raw meat and particularly raw poultry may be soiled by the contents of the animal's intestine. It has been shown that some 80% of frozen chickens contain food poisoning bacteria.

Milk and eggs and food containing milk and eggs (such as cream, custard, or mayonnaise) are often involved in cases of food poisoning, nearly always because they have been handled incorrectly.

Cooked meat and gravy, soups and stocks provide the nutrients that bacteria need to grow. If kept under warm conditions, a small number of bacteria will become many millions in a short time in soil, dust, and water, in the air around us, and on our bodies.

Of the many different types of bacteria only a small number are responsible for food poisoning; indeed, some are beneficial, helping to make cheese and yoghurt. But it is the dangerous food poisoning bacteria which concern us most and which result in hundreds of food poisoning cases in Egypt, the Dominican Republic and in other resorts worldwide. Prawns, mussels, crabs or lobsters may eat food that is contaminated or they may pick up food poisoning bacteria from polluted water. For example, shellfish, such as oysters, could have been taken from sewage polluted waters and you should never eat any raw shellfish from a holiday buffet.

It is important to remember that just like us bacteria are living things and that in the same way as we need water and food to survive, so bacteria also need them. Facts about bacteria in food include:

Bacteria need water. They can grow only in food that contains moisture and so they are less likely to survive in dried foods, such as powdered milk or dried eggs.

Unfortunately some bacteria do survive under such dry conditions. Hence when fluids are added to the food, they begin to grow again. The problem with dried eggs has already been mentioned.

Outbreaks of food poisoning have been traced to rice that has been cooked and stored under warm conditions before being reheated and served.

A bacterium known as Bacillus cereus has been found in dried rice. Some of these bacteria can survive cooking. If the cooked rice is allowed to remain at a warm temperature the bacteria will grow profusely and produce a toxin (poison) which can withstand heat for a considerable time.
Bacteria which cause food poisoning will grow most quickly at a temperature around 3JDC, which is the normal temperature of the human body, but as long as food is war mat temperatures between 5C and 63C they will continue to grow.

For this reason, the range of temperatures between 5C and 63C is known as the danger zone.
If you have suffered sickness in a holiday package tour hotel, you should seek compensation with the help of a no win, no fee holiday illness solicitor who will give you the help and guidance you need. However mild your illness is, you should never be exposed to holiday food poisoning and you could claim compensation for loss of enjoyment of your holiday, pain and distress and medical expenses.