Food Poisoning--what would you do?

[RallyJon]

Last week, my wife and I got food poisoning (not sure if there's a more specific term for it). Had a couple of veal chops for dinner with a salad, felt lousy all night, threw up within 5 min of each other in the AM and slept most of the day. Fever, chills, cramps, etc. Felt fine the next day. Basically a textbook case.

So I go to the high-end butcher where we got them and told the asst butcher (boss was not in). I've probably bought several thousand bucks of meat there and I just want them to be more careful--maybe knowing that someone got sick will incent them to spend an extra 5 min cleaning the bandsaw or something.

Instead, they try to buy me off. Reimburse me for the chops. Kiss my ass about what a good customer I am, etc. This missed the point entirely. They're the best butcher in the area--not like I can go anywhere else. All I want is for them to take a step back and examine their practices for where the problem could have occurred, so maybe it won't happen again.

WTF? Do I have to call the heath inspector? I really like the shop, but they need to pull their head out of the sand.

[widebody911]

I'm sure what the shop's 'liability' is - once the meat left the shop, they have no control over it. For instance, did you store the chops in the trunk of your car for 6 hours in the hot sun? What else did you eat?

[RallyJon]

Oh, no question of liability. Since you don't buy prime meat then cook it "well done" the cook is always responsible in the end for failing to kill whatever nasty stuff a careless butcher allowed to get on the meat.

But that's part of being a high end meat store, right? There's a higher expectation of quality across the board.

[charlesbahn]

I would definately report it to the health inspector. There may be others who have gotten sick, or will get sick. That's how epidemiology works to protect the public.

[Hugh R]

The salad is a good source for food poisoning. Do you wash lettuce? Being a raw vegetable no heat to kill bacteria. Its hand picked you know by farm workers, in the winter/spring it can come from Mexico or South America. Cooking pork chops well done (always well done, never rare on pork) kills most pathogens.

[LeeH]

Originally posted by charlesbahn
I would definately report it to the health inspector. There may be others who have gotten sick, or will get sick. That's how epidemiology works to protect the public.

I agree. Call the health department and they will ask numerous questions and determine the proper course. It would be best to report something like this the next day. You may have had leftovers/trimmings that could have been tested. Also they may have been able to go to the butcher shop and find some of the same meat.

Salmonella is usually transmitted by fecal contamination. Thoroughly rinsing the meat before a thorough cooking while paying attention to cross contamination (not using the same cutting boards, knives, plates, etc for raw, then cooked meat) probably would have prevented this. That being said, raw veggies like your salad can also carry salmonella. Did you have Caesar dressing?

[masraum]

10:1 it wasn't the chops. I don't think I'd call the health dept.

[artplumber]

In general, the salad/salad dressing is more likely to be the culprit. What about timing? Sounds like it happened very soon after not 24hrs later.

[RallyJon]

Did wash the (Romaine) lettuce twice in the salad spinner. The cuke came wrapped. Balsamic and oil dressing. Not much chance it came from the salad, but then I've eaten dozens of rare steaks from the butcher without a problem, too.

When something like this happens, you try to retrace the meal carefully. The chops were from the very front of the case--so maybe they were the oldest ones? I should have washed them before seasoning and grilling. Could the fire have been hotter? Sure, but you can ruin a good veal chop by charring it like a steak.

Timing was: Eat at 8PM. Fine 'til about midnight. Wonder why my stomach hurts and take some antacids and try to sleep. Sleep badly, waking up for water a couple of times. Up at 6 feeling lousy, throw up, feel better, go to work, feel much worse, come home at 11AM and sleep.

[Nathans_Dad]

Meat is a relatively rare cause of bacterial food poisoning, unless it is ground and/or refrigerated improperly.

As noted above, salad and fresh fruits/vegetables outweigh meat on the scale by many-fold.

As for the butcher shop, it sounds like he was just trying to do the right thing by offering to refund your money. Try going to the butcher shop at the local Piggly Wiggly and get your money back...

Bummer that you got food poisoning, but I'm not sure tracing it back to a source in this case will be very fruitful. It would be different if you had eaten at a salad bar or restaurant, that is likely a food prep issue. Unless you ate the veal almost raw, most surface bacterial would be killed by the grilling process. That leaves the interior of the meat, which as noted above isn't usually very contaminated unless the meat was ground up beforehand.

Score one for the bacteria...

[widgeon13]

Sorry to hear about the bout of FP.

On the unfortunate occasions when I have had food poisoning the onset has been quite rapid following the meal, was there anything else that you might have shared that evening that could be the culprit? Salad certainly could have been the problem as well. I always blamed mine on a bad martini olive so I switched to a lemon twist.

I have a friend who had some steaks from a well known company (that will remain anonymous). They (two adults and two children)all had the meat and within 2 hours they were all violently ill. All four had to taken to ER by ambulance. The mother was actually in intensive care for 24 hours due to dehydration and very low BP.

Food poisoning is a terrible experience. I have done a lot of international travel and been very fortunate not to have many problems along those lines but it's bad enough when you are home, it really sucks when you are a few thousand miles from home in some hotel room.

I really like veal chops but come to think of it most of the time when I grill them I do them pretty rare. Sure does take the appetite away for veal chops in the next month or so.

[RallyJon]

Ah well, with all the questionable food I eat, from rare burgers to sushi to game to food trucks to salad bars, I guess I'm well due for something like this.

Just to recap, I don't want and won't accept compensation. It just pissed me off that their first thought was, "pay the guy," not, "oh dear we have a problem let's solve it." Although maybe I'll go demand $.99 from the produce guy instead.

[M.D. Holloway]

bet you'll never eat baby cow again! On a more serious note, there are several opportunities to get the bugs - utensils, cooking surface, plates, and packaging. Just cuz something is in the package doesn;t mean it is safe.

The other thing is a virus - pretty rare but there are few that will mess you up.

[M.D. Holloway]

Here are some of the lil buggers that will hurt ya:

Salmonella



Aspergillus



E-coli

[M.D. Holloway]

Listeria



Pseudomonas aeruginosa



Staphylococcus aureus

[elwood-914]

Scene from Mash.......
SGT....Colonel, what have I got?
Colonel....Son, you have samonella..
Sgt... Who are they.....

That gets me everytime........uh sorry for you getting sick.

[charlesbahn]

Once helped deliver twins.....the mom said she was going to name them Salmonella and Shigella.

[Nathans_Dad]

I would rate that one up there with the mother that supposedly wanted to name her kids lemonjello (leMONjelo) and orangejello (oRANGelo)....

[elwood-914]

I am under going chemo treatment right now and I was told to stay away from salads.....too much bacteria.

[teenerted1]

food poisoning is almost always something that will hit rather quickly, not something that will wait till the morning... crab stuffed shrimp cuming up in the driveway comes to mind everytime.



more than likely not the food prep or the way the butcher treats his food. griling will kill the surface contaminates most of the time.

probably under cooked or some other factor. dont ever underestimate the need to cook fully. dont have to get to well done but you need to make sure its safe. i always swear by a meat thermomer when i use the grill on any large cuts or suspect meats.

it is in the butchers best interest to keep a clean shop....so his offer of a refund sounds like a nice gester on his part.