On November 30, 2010, Bloomberg news reported that the United States Senate has pass legislation that when enacted would overhaul Food Safety oversight by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to sources quoted in that article food-borne illnes are estimated to cost the U.S. economy as much as $152 billion dollars a year in direct and indirect expense and loss of productivity. The legislation received backing by multiple food industry and public- health groups and adds inspections and other powers including the ability of the FDA to force recalls, rather than relying on companies to voluntarily remove contaminated foods from store shelves. Just in recent years there have been massive recalls and food-borne illness outbreaks from a variety of consumer food porducts, some of them imported by foreign manufacturers.
To provide some sense of the scale of the problem one need only realize that everyone consumes food and is therefore at risk. An estimated 76 million people are made ill by food-borne illnesses in the U.S. each year, with over 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. IN Connecticut, as in most States, the field of law known as products liability covers one's rights to pursue a claim resulting from such an injury. As a practical matter, many minor short term ailments from contracting same are simply not worth the time and effort to mount a civil claim. On the other hand reporting same to the relevant governmental health authorities and the retailer and manufacturer(if known) serves the Public good. Wherever serious or persisting health problems are incurred, however, there may very well be an appropriate role for Legal involvement. The law is inclined to favor such claims when it can be established the source of the illness and the connection of any serious or persisting symptoms to that contaminated food. It is best to contact legal Counsel early in such circumstances.
